Sickness absence policy template for UK employers

What the policy covers

Acas lists what an absence policy should consider: how people report unplanned absence, whether you use trigger points, keeping in touch, support while off and on return, disability, and pay during absence. The template turns that list into twelve short sections.

The sections of the sickness absence policy template

Section	What you decide
Reporting sickness	Who to tell, how and by when on the first day, and how often to update
Evidence	Self-certification for 7 days or fewer, fit notes after that, and what happens with "may be fit for work"
Sick pay	Statutory sick pay, plus any company sick pay you add on top
Keeping in touch	How and how often you contact someone during a longer absence
Return to work meetings	When they happen, with the return to work form
Absence review points	Your trigger points, how people are told, and what a review involves
Long-term absence	Occupational health, phased returns and reasonable adjustments
Sickness and holiday	Holiday building up while off, and falling ill on holiday
Appointments, records, contact	Time off for appointments, who sees sickness records, and who to ask

Statutory sick pay since April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 changed statutory sick pay from 6 April 2026, and Acas sums up what changed. The template's sick pay section is written to the new rules:

• From day one. SSP is paid from the first day of sickness. The three unpaid "waiting days" are gone.
• No earnings threshold. The lower earnings limit no longer applies, so low earners qualify too.
• The amount. GOV.UK gives £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. It's paid for the days the person normally works. The SSP calculator works out a period's pay.

The weekly rate usually changes each April, so the template says "£123.25 when this template was checked". Check GOV.UK when you review the policy.

Reporting and evidence

Set your own deadline for reporting sickness: GOV.UK's employer guide says that without one the employee has 7 days to tell you, and you can't insist they tell you in person or on a special form. For evidence, GOV.UK says nobody needs a fit note for 7 days or fewer, counting weekends and bank holidays, but you can ask them to confirm the absence themselves when they return. After 7 days you can ask for a fit note, which a GP, hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist can issue.

Trigger points that hold up

Most UK sickness policies have trigger points, which Acas calls review points. Its guidance on absence trigger points is short and worth following closely:

• There are no legal rules on how or when you review absence, so you choose the points.
• They're usually based on the number of absences in a set period, or on how long an absence lasts.
• The policy should say what the points are, how someone is told they've reached one, and that reaching one starts an absence review.
• A review starts with a conversation about wellbeing, the reasons for the absence and support, before any further step.
• They shouldn't trigger disciplinary action automatically. If the system feels punitive, people come back while still ill to avoid a point.
• You must not discriminate. A disabled employee having regular treatment can reach the points faster. Adjust the points, or don't count disability-related or pregnancy-related absence towards them.

Acas doesn't give numbers. The template's examples, 3 separate absences or 8 working days in a rolling 12 months for short-term absence and 4 weeks in a row for long-term absence, are placeholders to change, not a standard. Pick points your managers can check without a spreadsheet, and use the same ones for everyone.

Some employers use a Bradford Factor score instead of, or alongside, a count. It squares the number of separate absences, so frequent short ones score higher than one long one. Try patterns in the Bradford Factor calculator before you write a threshold into the policy, and keep the same disability and pregnancy rules for it.

A worked example

NovaTech sets its short-term review point at 3 separate absences in a rolling 12 months. Greta Vogel was off for 2 days in February, 1 day in June and 4 days in October 2026: 3 absences and 7 days. At her return to work meeting on 12 October her manager notes that the review point is reached and invites her to a separate absence review the following week.

In the review Greta explains that the June day was a hospital appointment for a long-term condition she had not mentioned before. Under the policy, NovaTech considers whether the condition is a disability, takes advice from occupational health and agrees to stop counting those appointments towards her review points. No warning is given; they agree to check in again in three months.

Sickness and holiday

Section 9 follows GOV.UK: holiday keeps building up during sick leave, someone who falls ill just before or during a holiday can take it as sick leave instead, and they can ask to take paid holiday while off sick, but you can't make them take holiday when they're eligible for sick leave.

Running the policy day to day

A policy only works if managers can see where people stand. The sickness absence tracker in Absenca records every sick day, with an attached fit note where the leave type requires one, and counts absence per person over the leave year, so a review point is visible before the return to work meeting rather than after. The absence management software page covers the whole process, from reporting to review. Absenca is free for up to 10 people, and Bradford Factor scoring is on Pro and the Custom Pack, not on the free Starter plan.

Last checked on 23 October 2026 against Acas guidance on absence policies, trigger points and statutory sick pay, and GOV.UK guidance on statutory sick pay, sick leave and fit notes. It describes the rules in Great Britain; Northern Ireland has its own. This is general guidance, not legal advice, and your contracts decide the details.