What Should a Sickness Policy Contain in England?

From time to time, your employees will get unwell and take time off work as sick leave. Sickness can be physical ill-health, such as if they catch COVID, or mental ill-health, such as stress or anxiety. When your employees feel unwell, you must manage their absence and provide appropriate support. Correspondingly, your staff also need to know what you expect of them during periods of absence from work. By putting in place a workplace sickness policy, you can promote fairness and consistency when dealing with employee absences. This article will explain to you, as an employer, what a sickness policy in England should contain. 

Begin With A Clear Introduction

The beginning of your sickness policy should contain an introductory statement about your workplace procedures. This should detail the policy’s purpose and what areas it will cover. Your policy should describe the terms and conditions of your employee’s employment regarding sick-related absences. 

Employee Obligations When Sick

When employees fall ill and need to take time off work, they need to know the rules for taking sick leave. Therefore, your sickness policy should clarify:

• who your employees should report to about their absence and the level of detail they need to give;
• any deadlines for your employees when reporting their ill health;
• that your employees need to provide a fit note from their doctor to advise on their fitness to return to work after they have been sick for seven consecutive days; and 
• instances when your employees can self-certify their ill health, which may be where they are sick for less than seven consecutive days. 

Your sickness policy may detail how you deal with unauthorised absences and how you keep the records of sickness absences. It should also describe the procedures if your staff are sick on annual leave. 

Employee Ill-Health Entitlements

When creating your sickness policy, you should ensure that it contains details of what your employees are entitled to when they are absent from work due to sickness. By law, they are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (‘SSP’). However, some employers pay their staff more than this minimum entitlement when they are away from work with ill health, which is an occupational sick pay scheme. Therefore, your sickness policy must detail what you as an employer pay your staff when they are on sick leave so that they are clear whether their entitlement is more than SSP or not. 

Keeping in Touch and Return to Work Support 

When your staff are sick and absent from work, you should not keep in touch with them more than is necessary. However, keeping in touch with sick employees can help them manage their sickness. When you keep in touch with them, you may do so to:

• see how they are feeling;
• gain an understanding of when they may return to work; and
• to keep them updated with office news.

It is essential that your sickness policy also details what support you offer to your employees once they are ready to return to work. After all, the sooner your staff can return to work, the better for your business. For example, your sickness policy may contain:

• details of back-to-work interviews;
• the potential need for reasonable adjustments;
• any occupational health scheme; and
• any employee assistance programmes.

Key Takeaways

As an employer, you must ensure your employees’ health, safety and wellbeing. Hence, having a sickness policy helps you do this. A sickness policy helps you manage absences at work. It lets your employees know the procedures they should follow should they fall ill. Your policy should state, amongst other things, how you will offer support when your employees return to work, such as back-to-work meetings and occupational health support. 

If you need help understanding what a sickness policy should contain in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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