Introduction

You should stay away from work if you are too unwell to carry out your duties for us. We want to make sure that you understand our approach to sickness absence and know the processes that we follow for short-term and long-term absence.

This Policy:

• Explains how you should report any absences from work due to sickness.
• Sets out how you will be paid if you are off work due to sickness.
• Explains what we regard as an unauthorised absence and how such absences will be handled.
• Sets out our approach to short-term absence.
• Explains when we might seek a medical opinion in relation to your health and how we might go about doing that.
• Sets out our approach to long-term sickness absence.
• Sets out the support measures in place for any return to work following sickness.
• Sets out other reasons why you may need to take time away from work and our approach to them.

This Policy applies to all employees.

Reporting your absence from work

If you are unwell and unable to attend work, then you should phone your manager as early as possible and in any event before your scheduled start time to confirm that you are sick and will not be at work. 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.

We may ask you to provide some details about the reason for your absence, whether you are going to see a doctor and to let us know how long you are likely to be off work. We realise that you might not know this straight away – we just ask that you keep us informed as your absence develops. The more information you provide to us, the easier it will be for us to manage and support your absence.

You should contact your manager on each subsequent day you are off work, unless you have a fit note, or you have agreed a different process with your manager.

For the first seven days of absence (including any non-working days, weekends and bank holidays), we will generally allow you to self-certify. This means that you do not need to provide us with a fit note from your doctor. You will just be asked to complete a self-certification form on your return to work.

If your absence continues for longer than seven days, then we will need you to obtain a fit note from your doctor or other healthcare professional covering the remainder of your absence. You should send your fit note to your manager.

A fit note includes details of the reason for your absence and allows your doctor or other healthcare professional to stipulate whether you are ‘not fit for work’ or whether you ‘may be fit for work’. If the fit note states that you ‘may be fit for work’, then they are invited to provide details of any measures we could take to help you return. If your fit note provides this information, then we will generally arrange a meeting with you to discuss whether we are able to put these measures in place (which will depend on the needs of the business and our resources and capabilities). If we are not able to facilitate your return, then you will continue to be treated by us as if you are not fit for work.

Keeping in contact during sickness absence