1.1 This policy covers the procedure for reporting and managing absences and sick pay.
1.2 This policy does not form part of your employment contract and we may update it at any time.
1.3 This policy applies to all employees. It does not apply to self-employed contractors.
1.4 If you are arranging a medical appointment, please do your best to arrange it outside working hours. If it is likely to involve taking most of the day off, please try to use a day’s holiday (referring to our Holiday Policy).
2.1 You should tell your manager as soon as possible if you know you need time off work — for example, for a medical appointment — and get their permission. We will not normally pay you. However, you do have the right to ask us to treat this type of time off as paid holiday, and you should proceed as set out in our Holiday Policy.
2.2 You should tell your manager face-to-face or by telephone. Unless there is a good reason, text or email notifications are not acceptable.
3.1 If you are sick or have suffered an injury, you should let your manager know as soon as possible that you will be absent, and , and no later than 7.00am on that day.
3.2 You must speak to your manager yourself unless you are medically unfit to do so, in which case you can ask somebody else to make contact for you.
3.3 You should contact your manager on each subsequent day you are off work, by 2.00pm, unless you have a doctor’s certificate, or you have agreed a different process with your manager.
3.4 Always contact your manager by telephone, not by (for example) email or text. That is because your manager might want to ask you questions about your absence and how long you are expecting to be off for.
3.5 While you are off work, your manager may contact you to ask for updates, or to ask work questions where s/he cannot get the information any other way (although s/he will not contact you for work issues, if you have said you do not want to be contacted, unless it is particularly important).
4.1 You must complete a sickness absence self-certification form when you return to work if you are sick for less than eight calendar days.
4.2 You must give us a GP’s Statement of Fitness to Work stating that you are unfit for work — and the reason why — if you are off work for more than seven calendar days. We will need further certificates if you are still absent after the first and any subsequent certificates have expired. We will also require a self-certification form from you for the first seven calendar days you are off work.
5.1 You will qualify for company sick pay after you have successfully progressed beyond your probationary period. You will be paid up to three days full pay during each instance of absence, up to a maximum of five days full pay in a rolling 12-month period. You will be paid as long as you comply with this policy and your other contractual obligations.
5.3. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be paid if company sick pay has been exhausted and is paid instead of your salary. It starts on the fourth day you are off work (the first three days are unpaid) and can be paid for up to 28 weeks. If you are entitled to SSP, it will be taxed and National Insurance contributions will be deducted. The amount of SSP is set by the government.
5.2 If you do not give us a doctor’s Statement for Fitness to Work certificate after seven calendar days’ sickness, you may lose your right to sick pay.
5.4 Pension contributions usually made by you and by the Setting will (subject to the scheme’s rules) continue while you are receiving SSP.
6.1 If you receive a doctor’s certificate saying you may be fit to return to work you must tell your manager this straight away and provide us with a copy.
6.2 We may ask you to come to a return-to-work interview after you have been off work due to sickness or injury. At the interview, we will discuss why you were off work, check you are fit to return and consider any advice from your doctor.
6.3 Occasionally people say they are fit to return to work and we do not agree. If we do not think you are fit to return to work, even when you tell us you are, we might obtain our own medical evidence.
7.1 We may have to take formal steps if you are off work sick long-term, or we are concerned about the number of days you take off for sickness or injury. We recognise that long-term, fluctuating health conditions can cause intermittent absence and we will always take account of your situation and support you as much as we can.
7.2 How we respond to absence depends on why you are off work and the pattern of your absences. We may want to talk informally with you, and we may get medical evidence so that we can better understand your situation. We may want formal meetings to review your absence in more detail and to explore whether we need to make reasonable adjustments to help you either return to work, or to work for longer periods.
7.3 If we want medical evidence, we will usually ask you to be examined by an occupational health expert, or another specialist of our choice. We will pay for this and all reports will be kept confidential. We will ask for your consent for us to have full access to medical reports and to discuss the contents with the relevant medical practitioner. You do not have to consent, but if you don’t we will make decisions based on existing medical and other information. We will consider making reasonable adjustments to your role and/or workspace if you are found to have a disability.
7.4 We understand that this process is difficult and upsetting if you suffer from a serious health condition, and you might feel as if you are being pressured into returning to work before you are ready. We do not want to make you feel that way and we want to treat you fairly. But no business can continue employing people indefinitely if they are not able to work. We aim to keep you fully informed of our thought processes and the potential consequences of continued absence – and, sadly, one consequence could be dismissal.
The procedure
7.5 We will write to you before we hold a formal meeting and explain when, where, and why it is taking place. You must let us know as soon as possible if you can’t attend and we will try to find an acceptable alternative date. If it helps you to attend the meeting, we will consider using a venue closer to your home or conducting the meeting through some other means.
7.6 At the first meeting, we will want to discuss why you are off work, how long you expect to remain off work, and whether you are likely to be off work for the same reason in the future. We may need to get medical evidence, review existing reports, and explore whether there is anything the organisation can do to help improve your health and/or make it easier for you to attend work. If you have been off work long-term, we may suggest you take part in a return-to-work programme. If you are persistently absent, we may set you targets to improve your attendance against a deadline.
7.7 We may ask you to attend a second meeting to follow up on the things we discussed at the first. In particular, if you have not been able to return to work or have not met the attendance targets set at the first meeting, we will want to talk with you about the likelihood of things improving. It will be important for us, and for you, to try to understand for how long your absence or pattern of absences is likely to continue, and whether there is anything else we might be able to do to help. As part of that, we may need to review the medical evidence, commission new medical evidence, and seek specific advice from an occupational health specialist and/or other medical professional. We will set a timescale for re-assessing your situation, which could (but will not necessarily) mean that we decide to schedule additional meetings before implementing paragraph 8.8 below. We may warn you that your employment could be brought to an end if your attendance does not improve.
7.8 If you are unable to return to work, or you fail to meet the deadline(s) set for improved attendance, we will ask you to attend another meeting. If it seems to us that you are either unlikely to return to work, or your attendance will not improve in the short term, we may decide to issue you with notice of dismissal. Before doing so, we will explore redeploying you elsewhere within the Organisation (if there are any suitable roles available) and we will consider any other issues you want to discuss.
7.9 You may face action under the Organisation disciplinary procedure if we conclude that you are not off work for a medical condition and you are unable to offer any other satisfactory explanation and/or have falsely claimed sick pay. This may lead to your dismissal for misconduct or gross misconduct.
Your right to appeal
7.10 You have the right to appeal a decision to dismiss you or issue you with a warning because of your absence. To do this, you need to respond within a week of being told the decision by writing directly to whoever is named in the letter you received. In your response to that letter, you must explain exactly why you are appealing.
7.11 Wherever possible, the appeal hearing meeting will not be led by the manager who took the decision.. Our final decision will be sent to you in writing, and we try to do this within two weeks of the appeal hearing. You do not have any further right of appeal.
Your right to be accompanied
7.12 You have the right to take a colleague or a trade union representative with you to any formal meeting called under this procedure, including the appeal meeting. You should tell us as soon as possible who will accompany you and it is your responsibility to arrange for them to attend. If you choose a work colleague, we will not prevent them from attending, but we may rearrange the meeting if their absence from work could cause operational problems.
7.13 Your colleague or union representative can, if you prefer, explain the key points of your case to the meeting and can respond on your behalf. You can also confer with them during the meetings. However, they must not answer questions put directly to you or try to prevent us asking questions or outlining our arguments.
Jury service
8.1 If you are called for jury service, you must tell your manager as soon as possible. While you are on jury service, you will not be paid and should therefore claim all allowances made available by the court.
Other public duties
8.2 We will allow you time off to carry out duties in some public roles, including magistrate and school governor. As soon as you know what your duties are, and have dates for hearings/meetings you must attend, you should tell your manager so that we can plan for your absence from work. While you are carrying out these duties, we will not pay you for time taken off work.
Emergency time off to look after dependants
8.3 You may take reasonable time off work to deal with emergencies involving your dependants. This does not cover general home issues, like wanting time off to deal with a problem with your boiler. We define a dependant as your spouse, civil partner, child (including adopted children), or a parent. Also included are other people who live in your household or anyone else who relies on you — for example, an elderly family member. You must follow the same procedure as for sickness leave and contact your manager as soon as you know you will be taking time off.
8.4 We always consider the circumstances of each case to allow for some flexibility, but the time you take off must be both reasonable and necessary for you to deal with something immediately and/or respond to an emergency. Normally this means hours, or a maximum of one or two days, and this type of leave is not designed to provide care over the longer term.
8.5 We do not pay you when you take time off for dependents.
Other family-related absences
8.6 We cover all other types of time off for family-related matters — including maternity, paternity, shared parental, parental and adoption leave — in our separate Maternity and Family Friendly Policy.
Carrying out trade union duties
8.7 If you are elected as a trade union official, you are legally entitled to reasonable time off to fulfil your obligations and you will be paid at your full basic rate for all related absences during working hours. We will not pay you for duties carried out outside working hours.