What is a sickness absence policy, and do you really need one?

Key takeaways:

• A clear sickness absence policy acts as a handy roadmap, taking the stress out of managing staff shortages while keeping your daily operations running smoothly.
• Laying out clear rules for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and company schemes keeps everything transparent, especially since recent legal updates made SSP a day-one right.
• Splitting your approach between short-term and long-term health challenges allows you to offer tailored support, like phased returns or occupational health check-ins.
• Setting fair absence trigger points means you catch patterns that need attention early and opens the door for supportive, structured conversations before things get out of hand.

Getting ill is, unfortunately, a part of life. But when you’re an employer, having staff members off sick can trigger a wide range of issues.

While it’s unreasonable, and usually counterproductive, to expect your employees to work through bouts of illness, it’s also important not to leave yourself without enough staffing to cover your day-to-day tasks. That’s where a strong sickness absence policy comes in.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through exactly what this policy should look like and how you can implement one that works for everyone.

Contents:

• What is a sickness absence policy?
• When do you need a sickness absence policy?
• What to include in your sickness absence policy
• Short-term vs. long-term sickness absence policies
• Valid reasons for taking sickness leave in the UK
• Sickness absence policy template
• Sick leave FAQs

What is a sickness absence policy?

A sickness and absence policy is a formal document outlining the rules, procedures, and support for employees who are too unwell to work.

It covers essentials like absence reporting, sick pay entitlement, and return-to-work processes, so that you’re compliant with UK law and HR best practice when managing sickness absence.

Think of your sickness absence policy as a roadmap for handling sick leave. Giving staff a clear rulebook helps them understand what’s required of them while protecting your business from being taken advantage of.

When do you need a sickness absence policy?

A sickness absence policy is a core requirement for businesses of all shapes and sizes, meaning you’ll need one from the moment you hire your very first employee.

While the policy isn’t named directly in employment law, business owners are legally required to provide employees with a written document that covers their sick pay and how to report an absence. Because of this, it’s often easiest to neatly package all this information into a single dedicated sickness policy.

What to include in your sickness absence policy

When one of your team members wakes up feeling unwell before a shift or a long day in the office, they shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to figure out what to do. It’s important to make sure you include everything the employee needs to know right in the policy.

The key sections you’ll need to cover are:

How to report an absence

Things can quickly fall apart if an employee takes the day off sick without notifying the rest of the business, which is why you need to set out a crystal-clear absence-reporting process. This section of your policy document should explain:

• Who to call — Should they ring their line manager directly, or contact a dedicated HR team member?
• When to call — Give a specific deadline to notify the business about an absence (e.g., by 9:00am on their first sick day).
• What to say — Explain how much information they need to provide about their symptoms and when they think they’ll be ready to return.

Rules around sick pay entitlement

You’ll need to lay out the rules for who’s entitled to what level of sick pay and the criteria for qualifying. There are two different types of sick pay to consider:

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) — This is the legal minimum amount you must pay eligible employees when they’re off sick.
• Company sick pay (or occupational sick pay) — This is an enhanced sick pay scheme that some employers choose to offer. It pays out more than the statutory minimum, but the exact amounts and entitlements are up to the business.

An important change you need to be aware of is that, following the Employment Rights Act 2025, SSP is now a day-one right. Previously, employees had to wait three working days before receiving pay, but eligible staff now receive SSP as soon as they become unwell.

If you offer an enhanced sick pay scheme, you’ll likely have your own rules around who qualifies and when. You can learn more about this in our guide to understanding occupational sick pay.

You should also include a clause in your staff’s employment contract outlining the sick pay they’ll receive if they need time off. You can then put the finer details about your sick pay policy in your employee handbook.

Proof of sickness

Outline the specific proof an employee might be asked to provide to back up their sick leave. In the UK, this generally falls into two categories:

• Up to seven days — Employees can ‘self-certify’. This means they write down their own reason for being sick and give it to your HR team when they return.
• Over seven days — Employees will need to provide a “fit note” (sometimes called a sick note, or commonly known as “sick line” in Scotland) from a healthcare professional, like a doctor or pharmacist.

Keep in mind that illnesses aren’t always physical. If you’re seeing a rise in stress-related absences, you might find our blog on coping with mental health fit notes helpful.

Return to work paperwork

Your policy should also talk about the return-to-work process once the employee is ready to come back. This is split into two key areas:

• Return-to-work interview — Make sure your policy explains that managers will have a quick, informal catch-up with the employee on their first day back. This is just to make sure they’re ready to carry out their duties and see if they need any extra help getting back to work.
• Phased return — Explain that, if they’re recovering from a serious illness, you might agree to shorter hours or lighter duties at first to ease them back into their normal routine.

Contact procedures during sickness absence

Your sickness absence policy and procedure needs to explain how and when you’ll contact an employee while they’re off sick.

Set expectations for how often a manager or HR representative will check in and, most importantly, make it clear that these conversations are to offer support and see how they’re doing. The goal shouldn’t be to pressure the employee back to work before they’re ready.

Support processes for chronic or recurrent absence

Sometimes, employees suffer from chronic or recurring health conditions that make them more prone to needing regular sick leave. As an employer, you’ll still need to check in with these team members to see whether there are any reasonable adjustments you can make to support them and keep them in the workplace.

It can often be useful to include clear ‘trigger points’ in your policy (for example, taking three separate sick days in a rolling three-month period). Explain that hitting a trigger point will result in an invitation to a formal meeting to discuss their health, see what support they need, and figure out the best path forward. For a deeper dive, check out our top tips for managing sickness absences.

Short-term vs. long-term sickness absence policies

While there aren’t any strict legal definitions for what counts as short-term versus long-term sick leave in the UK, it’s usually a good idea to manage these two in slightly different ways.

Depending on your business and the situation, you should create separate short and long-term sickness absence policies, or at least outline how you’ll handle each.

For example, your short-term process might focus on quick return-to-work chats and monitoring for any noticeable patterns in when employees take sick leave (such as before or after a weekend, or a specific weekday that aligns with office attendance). On the other hand, your long-term approach might involve occupational health referrals, regular welfare meetings, phased returns, and reasonable adjustments.

Valid reasons for taking sickness leave in the UK

You’ll need to be clear about what counts as a valid reason for sickness absence — simply having a “duvet day” on a whim isn’t great for business! Monitoring and reviewing these absences over time is a key part of the sickness absence management process. Plus, keeping a close eye on this can actually help you meet your legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

To keep things clear, here are a few examples of what is and isn’t an acceptable use of sick leave:

Acceptable absence	Unacceptable absence
Physical illnesses (e.g. flu, food poisoning, and migraines)	Waking up tired or oversleeping
Mental health struggles (e.g. severe anxiety, depression, or burnout)	Taking a day off because you don’t feel like working
Recovering from surgery or medical procedures	Using sick leave to cover childcare issues (this should fall under dependents leave)
Workplace injuries	Nursing a hangover

If you ever need to challenge an employee about the reasons for their absence, it can be tricky to navigate. Check out our advice on having difficult conversations with your employees to keep your conversations professional and constructive.

Sickness absence policy template

Creating your policy from scratch can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a simple sickness absence policy template you can use to structure your document:

1. Policy statement — This is a brief introduction that explains the purpose of the policy and your commitment to supporting staff wellbeing. For example, this could be a short, opening line stating that you value your team’s health and want to make sure everyone gets the right support to recover.
2. Reporting procedures — Step-by-step instructions on who to call, when, and what information to provide. For example: “Please call your line manager by 9:00am on your first day of sickness and let them know roughly when you expect to be back.”
3. Evidence requirements — The rules around self-certification and when to provide a fit note. This means explaining the need for a self-certification form for the first seven days and the requirements for submitting a doctor’s note for anything longer. You might also choose to include information about where employees can find the self-certification forms.
4. Sick pay entitlements — Clear details on SSP, company sick pay (if applicable), and how it’s calculated. Make sure to clarify whether your staff receive standard SSP or an enhanced, full-pay scheme for the first few weeks of leave.
5. Keeping in touch — How the business will communicate with the employee during their absence. For example, a manager will drop them a quick, informal text or call once a week to see how their recovery is going.
6. Return to work — Details on return-to-work interviews and phased returns. You might mention that you’ll hold a quick 10-minute catch-up on their first morning back to make sure they’re ready to dive back in.
7. Absence review triggers — This is where you outline the specific metrics that’ll prompt a formal absence review meeting, such as taking too many individual bouts of leave in close proximity, clear patterns, and what the potential outcomes are at each trigger point e.g. informal warning, first written, final written, dismissal.

Sick leave FAQs

How Citation can help with your sickness absence policy

When it comes to effectively managing sickness absence, we’re the team to have in your corner. Our team of HR experts can also help you craft fully compliant sickness absence policies, giving your business the solid building blocks it needs to thrive.

We’ll advise you on how to handle long and short-term absences, with support for any necessary disciplinary action — all the way up to the dismissal procedure if needed.

Ready to get started? Contact us today by calling 0345 844 1111 or emailing hello@citation.co.uk.