Never ending suspension

[Cantbelieve20]

I don't even know where to start...
Jan 2016. Dh goes off work with depression. He mentions to me that he had made a few mistakes in his work leading up to going off sick due to lack of concentration, not coping and headaches. Took couple of short cuts. Had meeting with manager before he went off and admitted to some errors. He was in very bad emotional state during this meeting. They advised him that it would be reflected in this annual report and that was that as far as he knew.
June 2016. Attends meeting with line manager to arrange phased return to work. To restart following week.
Goes in to work on agreed return date. As soon as he arrives he is pulled into directors office by head of hr. His line manager tells him as he walks in that it is beyond his control. He is advised by head of hr that he should contact his gp when he leaves. He is told he is suspended on full pay and given letter with list of serious accusations (none of which He did) He is escorted off premises.
Process has moved at snail's pace. Investigation and all meetings were completed mid July 2017 and we have had no contact since then. We are awaiting their decision.
Union rep has advised us not to put in a complaint until we have a favourable decision which has made sense up to now, but we are at the end of our tether now. Every day for 15 months has been torture. We think/ hope that the reason they are taking so long is because he should not have been suspended in the first place.
This morning I tried to ring hr decision person and the phone just rang out. Will try again later. Even if they could say it will take another few weeks at least we would not be waiting anxiously every day, thinking it could be the day we get decision and be able to move on with our lives.
The last 15 months have been hell. Dh s mental health has been seriously damaged. He ended up being admitted to hospital for one week a few days after being suspended. Our marriage has nearly finished at times (We have come through that), our kids have witnessed their dad in a very distressed state at times - including me having to lock all doors to prevent him going and throwing himself out under a car. He has felt frequently suicidal (so have i) I had to give up my high pressure job as I just couldn't cope with stress at home and at work. We have isolated ourselves from friends as it is embarrassing when you meet and they ask well any updates and the answer is always no. Everyone must believe he has done something really awful for it to be taking so long (He really hasn't- he made some mistakes due to his ill health)
I have read some other threads on here about suspension, but noone have been off as long.
I am reluctant to post this as anyone who knows us will recognise the situation but I don't know where to turn or what to do.
I am not sure if any of this makes sense. I feel so weary and worn down. Not sure if anyone can give us any advise or if there is anything we can do.

Sorry I do not have any advice but 15 months suspended on full pay?!
The company must have money to burn!!

Has he not at any stage during his suspension sought guidance / legal advice? Or spoken with ACAS?

Has he not pressed the organisation to give him a written account of the allegations held against him?

I'm very surprised he has allowed the situation to have continued for this long, not knowing what his rights are or what his employer intends to do.

OK he has been paid during that time, but as you have said in your OP, your life has been on hold with no ability to regain control.

What does your DH intend to do, continue to sit and wait, or is now the time to take action?

Thanks daisychain for your reply. We did contact ACAS and they told us that there is nothing that can be done until they come to a decision on how they are going to discipline him. In the handbook it talks about reasonable length of time. The guy who suspended him was temporary and left very soon after suspending him. The impression we have got is that no one wants to come to a decision because it is a major balls up and my dh should never have been.suspended - let alone for 15 months.

We have been getting advice from union rep since the beginning. Not sure how good he is but he advised us not to rock the boat until we get a favourable outcome.

Once a decision has been made we can then take action. Legal action is very likely.

My dh has been paralysed by all this and I need to prod and poke to get him to contact anyone. He has had several medical issues as a result of his hospital admission last summer when they changed all his meds.

I spoke to the decision maker this afternoon and she said we should hear in the next couple of weeks.

What I can't understand is why all the investigations and interviews that have to be done were completed middle of July and we are still waiting. We are hoping that it does mean they are not sacking him (which we would appeal) as surely they would have gone ahead and done that sooner.

I don't have anything useful to add unfortunately, but just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear you are in such a shitty situation and I hope it all gets resolved soon.

It seems to be spiralling downward from the description here. Any chance that he might take another job (another kind of job) somewhere? Retrain to something else if necessary? You did not say what your age is, if that could be an option to get out of that trap you're describing.

Thank you Puffpaw
Thank you for your suggestions alphastation. His work is specialised. He has worked for his employer for 23 years. Once we get their decision we can make plans for the future but at the moment he is still employed by them and cannot work for anyone else. He would not be able to earn the level he is on anywhere else. If we hae known at the beginning of this process that it would take so long we might have done differently but then again he has been so ill that he couldn't think straight.

His union rep sounds completely incompetent tbh. I'm just trying to imagine the humongous fuss the various union reps I've encountered during my career would have quite rightly made about this on behalf of the employee they were representing.

The guy who suspended him was temporary and left very soon after suspending him

Do you mean the person was in the role temporarily (but was a permanent member of staff)? A temporary worker, as in a contractor, wouldn't have had the authority to suspend a permanent employee of 23 years' standing.

It all sounds bonkers. I do hope you get this resolved through solicitors, they really are on very thin ice

If he got another job he could resign from that crappy job (I use the word 'crappy' here, as it sounds to me it's indeed a crappy job from the description of what has happened). Does he really have to earn all that much? Is it necessary for your survival? Or could you manage nearly as well on a lower salary, maybe move somewhere else? It could be worth thinking about. I can't imagine being suicidal could in any way be a price worth paying for some inflated salary if you could get on nearly just as well on a lower salary and then simultaneously be happy with your job and life situation. Strange that this problem happened after twentythree years, it's not like he is new to the job. I don't know hardly anybody that's been with one and the same firm for that long.

Many thanks for all your thoughts on the situation. It's good to hear outside perspective - it has gone on so long that it was feeling normal nearly.