Sickness

There are 3 stages in dealing with persistent absences:

• stage 1 - discussion about the levels of absence and a further two month review
• stage 2 – Second Review Interview and further two month review
• stage 3 – Case Review Meeting

If a sickness trigger is hit, an employee will be invited to attend a meeting with their line manager to discuss the record of absence and set a period of review, normally two months.  It may be appropriate at this stage to seek advice from Occupational Health on whether there is a need for a medical referral at this stage.

If absence doesn’t improve, managers should arrange a follow up meeting to discuss their concerns and can move to stage 2 – Second Review Interview. This again will be reviewed within two months and if there are still concerns then move onto stage 3.

Stage 3 is a Case Review Meeting where a senior manager will review the report into the employee absence and issue the appropriate sanction. Where a warning has been issued but a sustained and significant improvement in attendance has not been achieved, termination of employment may be considered. Consideration of termination in such cases should be by way of a formal interview with an appropriate senior manager with delegated authority to deal with the matter. Employees have the right to representation at this meeting. 

For further clarification please see Appendix 1 of the Absence management Policy & Procedure.

What if a medical reason causes the absence?

If a medical opinion confirms a genuine medical problem causing the absences, the case would be reviewed at an appropriate time and in light of any further medical evidence and further absences.

Monthly absence form

It is vital that you submit the absence in the ERP as soon as you become aware of an absence, to avoid an individual being overpaid what they are contractually entitled to, resulting in an overpayment and recovery process required between the staff member and Employment Services. Any managers continually reporting absences late to Employment Services will be escalated to senior management. 

You can check the latest Monthly payroll deadlines here.

Any managers continually reporting absences late to Employment Services will be escalated to senior management. Furthermore managers do not need to send self-certificates into Employment Services these should be kept on file within the team. However Employment Services do require the original copy of the doctors sick notes.

Sickness codes

The new sickness codes have been taken from Institute of Occupational Medicine (as part of the SART [Sickness Absence Reporting Tool] development project for the UK Health and Safety Executive). These codes will enable managers to capture the reasons for absences correctly, because the previous codes were misleading and uninformative. It will also assist the organisation, HR department with looking at specific interventions.

Absence Management Policy

In addition as a reminder, staff returning to work on an agreed phased approach as recommended by the Occupational Advisor were expected to utilise annual leave, annualised hours or TOIL to off-set the hours not worked during their phased return to work. Any agreed phased return to work (up to a maximum of 4 weeks) that commences from 1 June 2017, staff are no longer required to use annual leave, annualised hours or TOIL as part of the return to work process. Staff will receive their full contractual pay upon their return to work. You can view the news item from 31 May for further information.

The Absence Management policy can be found in Sharepoint.

Who do I contact if I have any questions?

If you have a specific question about the form, codes and payroll deadline please contact Employment Service helpline on 01743 252190 or email Payroll.

The amount of sick pay you receive will depend on your service and compliance with the expectations set out in the absence management policy and procedure:

What is the payment after the full pay period expires?

Please visit the gov.uk website for more information on statutory sick pay.

Sick pay is paid on a rolling 12 month period.  For example if you have 3 years' service you are entitled to 4 months' full pay so if you were sick from June until August (3 months') and then sick again in March of the following year, you would only have 1 months' full pay remaining.

There are 3 stages in dealing with persistent absences:

• stage 1 - discussion about the levels of absence and a further two month review
• stage 2 – Second Review Interview and further two month review
• stage 3 – Case Review Meeting

If a sickness trigger is hit, an employee will be invited to attend a meeting with their line manager to discuss the record of absence and set a period of review, normally two months.  It may be appropriate at this stage to seek advice from Occupational Health on whether there is a need for a medical referral at this stage.

If absence doesn’t improve, managers should arrange a follow up meeting to discuss their concerns and can move to stage 2 – Second Review Interview. This again will be reviewed within two months and if there are still concerns then move onto stage 3.

Stage 3 is a Case Review Meeting where a senior manager will review the report into the employee absence and issue the appropriate sanction. Where a warning has been issued but a sustained and significant improvement in attendance has not been achieved, termination of employment may be considered. Consideration of termination in such cases should be by way of a formal interview with an appropriate senior manager with delegated authority to deal with the matter. Employees have the right to representation at this meeting. 

For further clarification please see Appendix 1 of the Absence management policy and procedure.

Employees are expected to use annual leave periodically throughout the year to maintain a healthy work-life balance and to ensure they take adequate rest breaks.

Employees who are sick during their annual leave must obtain a doctors note to cover the relevant period of sickness if they wish to reclaim their leave. Leave can be suspended from the date on the medical certificate as long as they have notified their place of work at the time in which they become unwell. Sick pay will commence from the date on the medical certificate.

Employees who are absent due to ill health continue to accrue statutory holiday entitlement whilst off work. Where sick pay entitlement have been exhausted and in exceptional circumstances, employees may request to take accrued annual leave during periods of ill health in line with the expectations of Shropshire Council’s Annual Leave Entitlement Policy.

Any statutory holiday entitlement that isn’t used because of illness may be carried over into the next leave year. However, employees are expected to make every reasonable attempt to take accrued leave periodically throughout the current leave year.

It may be agreed that employees returning from a period of long term absence may request annual leave during a phased return in order that full pay can be maintained during the phased return. Phased returns can be used for a variety of reasons when someone has been off sick and last for different lengths of time depending on the individual reasons for absence and balanced with the needs of the service.