Absence management for UK teams
Absence management software for UK employers
Record sickness and every other absence, keep the evidence with it, and see the patterns your absence policy asks you to act on. Below: a buyer's checklist and the UK rules it should cover.
Free for up to 10 people · 11 to 50 people: $37.50 a month on Pro
Absence management software replaces the sickness spreadsheet, the folder of fit notes and the manager's memory with one record of who was off, why, for how long and what happened next. Absenca does that for UK employers alongside holiday booking: people report a sick day or book leave in the same place, managers see the cover on the team calendar, and HR sees each person's absence over the leave year.
Buying one is mostly about process, not features. The UK has rules on sick pay, fit notes and fair treatment that the tool has to fit around, and Acas guidance on review points and return to work meetings that most absence policies follow. This page sets out that process, a checklist to judge any tool against, and where Absenca stops. It describes the rules in Great Britain as written; it isn't legal advice.
What you get
Sickness and leave in one record
Sick leave, annual leave, appointments and your own leave types, booked as days, half days or hours, each with its own rules and allowance.
Evidence kept with the absence
A leave type can require a document, such as a fit note, attached to the request as a PDF or photo, so the evidence stays with the dates it covers.
Patterns, scored
Bradford Factor scores and bands per person over the leave year, for the leave types you choose, with CSV, Excel and PDF exports.
Private by default
Mark sick leave private and colleagues see the person as "Away" in Absenca's calendar and team views, while their approvers and admins see the type.
What absence management covers in the UK
Most UK sickness absence policies follow the same five steps, and absence management software should support each one:
- Reporting. The employee tells their manager on the first day, under your policy's deadline. Without one, the GOV.UK employer guide gives them 7 days, and you can't insist on a special form.
- Evidence. For 7 days or fewer, counting weekends and bank holidays, the employee confirms the absence themselves. After that, they give you a fit note (GOV.UK).
- Pay. Statutory sick pay, and any company sick pay on top, goes through payroll.
- Return. A return to work meeting checks the person is ready and agrees support. Acas recommends one, though the law doesn't require it.
- Review. When absence reaches a review point in your policy, an absence review looks at the reasons and the support needed.
Free templates cover the paperwork: a sickness absence policy template written to the April 2026 sick pay rules, and a return to work form for step four.
A buyer's checklist for absence management software
Judge any tool, ours included, against what your policy needs it to do. The third column says what Absenca does today.
| Requirement | Why it matters | In Absenca |
|---|---|---|
| Sickness recorded apart from holiday | Sick days mustn't come out of the holiday allowance, and reports need them apart | Sick leave is its own leave type with its own allowance; 2 leave types free, up to 20 on Pro |
| Logging a sick day after it happened | People rarely book sickness in advance | Requests for past dates are allowed by default, and managers can book leave for their team |
| Fit note evidence | You can ask for a fit note after 7 days | A leave type can require an attachment, up to 5 files of 10 MB each; the rule applies to every request of that type, not from day 8 |
| Privacy for health information | Health data is special category data under UK GDPR | Private leave types show "Away" to colleagues in Absenca's calendar and team views |
| Review points | Acas says the policy should state them and how people are flagged | Bradford Factor scores and bands per person over the leave year, on Pro |
| Records you can hand over | HMRC may ask to see sickness records if sick pay is disputed | Every request's dates, type, reason and reviewer, exported as CSV |
| Sick pay calculation | SSP goes through payroll | Not built in: export the absence data to your payroll |
Statutory sick pay basics for 2026
The Employment Rights Act 2025 changed statutory sick pay from 6 April 2026. As Acas summarises it, SSP is now paid from the first day of sickness, with the three waiting days removed, and the lower earnings limit no longer applies.
GOV.UK gives the amount as £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, paid for the days the person normally works, for up to 28 weeks. Northern Ireland has its own rules.
For the software, that means two things. Every sick day now counts for pay, so a sick day nobody recorded is a payroll error, not just a gap in a report. And payroll needs the exact dates, including half days, which is what the export gives.
Bradford Factor and review points
Acas says there are no legal rules on when to review absence, that review points are usually a number of absences in a period or a length of absence, and that reaching one should start a conversation, never disciplinary action on its own. It warns that disabled employees can reach the points faster, and suggests adjusting them or not counting disability-related or pregnancy-related absence.
The Bradford Factor is a common way to set a point for frequent short absence: the number of separate spells squared, times the days absent. Absenca scores it per person over the leave year for the leave types you choose, and bands scores of 50, 200 and 500 as medium, high and critical. Those bands are a starting point, not a rule. Leave a type out of the count, or record disability-related absence under a type that doesn't count, to follow the Acas advice. Try patterns in the free Bradford Factor calculator, or see Bradford Factor software.
Return to work meetings
Acas recommends a return to work meeting after absence, held as soon as possible after the person returns, to check they're ready, update them and agree support such as a phased return. If a fit note says "may be fit for work", the meeting is where you agree whether you can follow its advice.
Absenca doesn't run return to work meetings: there is no interview workflow or form inside the app. Use the free return to work form, and the absence record in Absenca gives the manager the dates and the history before the meeting.
Where Absenca stops
Absenca is absence and leave management, not a full HR system. It doesn't calculate statutory or company sick pay, run occupational health referrals or store medical reports beyond the documents attached to a request. Private leave types are hidden in Absenca's calendar and team views, but channel digests, calendar feeds, shared team calendars, reports and out-of-office replies still show the type for now.
If you need sickness, holiday and the patterns in one place, priced for a small team, it fits: free for up to 10 people, then $37.50 a month for up to 50 people on Pro. For a tracker focused on sick days alone, see the sickness absence tracker; for every kind of absence, the absence tracker.
Last reviewed: · Absenca Team
Why teams choose Absenca
- Sickness, holiday and every other absence in one record
- Fit notes attached to the absence they cover
- Private sick leave, shown as "Away" in Absenca's calendar and team views
- Bradford Factor scores per person over the leave year, on Pro
- Free for up to 10 people; Pro is $37.50 a month for up to 50 people
Frequently asked questions
- What is absence management software?
- Software that records employee absence, sickness above all, with the evidence and history behind it, so managers apply the absence policy consistently: who's off, why, for how long, and when a review point is reached. Absenca does this alongside holiday booking.
- Does Absenca calculate statutory sick pay?
- No. Absenca records every sick day, including half days, and exports the dates for payroll, which calculates SSP. Since 6 April 2026 SSP is paid from the first day of sickness, so every recorded day matters.
- Can employees upload a fit note?
- Yes. A leave type can require an attachment, a PDF or photo of up to 10 MB, with up to 5 files per request. The requirement applies to every request of that type, so it can't switch on only after 7 days.
- Does Absenca do return to work interviews?
- Not inside the app. Use our free return to work form for the meeting; Absenca gives the manager the dates and absence history to prepare.
- How much does Absenca cost?
- Absenca is free for up to 10 people. Pro is $37.50 a month for up to 50 people, or $33.75 a month billed annually ($405 a year). Bradford Factor scoring is on Pro and the Custom Pack, not on the free Starter plan.