Sickness and Absence Policy

A sickness and absence policy outlines the guidelines to be followed where an employee is absent due to sickness or injury or is absent due to some other reason such as to look after a dependent.

This sickness and absence policy is suitable for use in England, Wales and Scotland and includes the following clauses:

• leave entitlement
• rights during leave
• maternity pay
• notification of absence
• change of leave dates
• return to work
• keeping in touch
• rights on return.

Statutory sick pay is paid to employees who are unable to work for at least 4 calendar days because of sickness. It is paid by the employer for up to a maximum of 28 weeks to all employees who satisfy the conditions for payment. The employer will ask the employee for evidence that they are sick. For the first 7 days that an employee is sick the employee should fill in a self-certification form or a form SC2. A doctor's certificate will be required for all periods of sickness of more than seven days.

If an employee does not qualify for statutory sick pay or statutory sick pay runs out and the employee is still sick, the employer should complete form SSP1 and give it to the employee to send to their local social security office with their claim for Incapacity Benefit.

By law employers are required to keep records of dates of sickness lasting at least 4 calendar days in a row, that is periods of incapacity for work (PIW) reported by employees and records of all payments of statutory sick pay made during a PIW. Form SSP2 can be used for this purpose. Employers are required to keep statutory sick pay records for at least 3 years after the end of the tax year to which they relate.

As well as the sickness and absence policy this package of documents also includes the following forms:

This package is available as part of an employment Annual Subscription - giving you unlimited access to all standard employment documents, packages and forms for 1 year for only £39.95 including VAT.

The price for this package is £11.28 including VAT if bought individually. You can view a sample of the sickness and absence policy here.

How to order

Choose the appropriate format for your Sickness and Absence Policy Package:

Word Template (.dot) or Word Document (.doc) 

Related Clickdocs documents

• Annual Subscription - access to all standard employment documents for 1 year
• SC2 - statutory self-certification form used by employees to report sick absences of 4 or more days
• SSP1 - statutory form used to tell an employee why they do not qualify for statutory sick pay
• SSP2 - statutory form used to record details of an employee's statutory sick pay