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Policies, contracts, letters, guidance and HR support tools for UK employers.
View full libraryPolicies, contracts, letters, guidance and HR support tools for UK employers.
View full libraryManage sickness absence with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering absence reporting, return-to-work meetings, reviews, support and formal action — helping you follow a clear, consistent and supportive process.
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Toolkit contains:
Our absence improvement guide offers insights and strategies for improving employee attendance and reducing absenteeism.
A practical manager’s guide to identifying absence patterns, exploring root causes, and supporting employees fairly and consistently.
This guide provides guidance on managing employees on long-term sick leave, including understanding legal obligations, conducting effective communication, implementing reasonable adjustments, and exploring return-to-work options.
Managers guide to managing short term sick absence, covering absence reporting, return to work meetings, absence patterns, support and HR action.
Manager's guide to reducing sickness absence covering attendance management, return-to-work meetings, employee support, absence patterns, reasonable adjustments and further action.
This guide provides guidance on conducting effective return to work (RTW) interviews after periods of absence, helping managers gather relevant information, address any concerns or barriers, and facilitate a smooth transition back to work.
Our Absence Improvement Policy template is designed to support a healthier work environment by helping you to combat absenteeism, ensure fairness, and boost productivity.
Our Alternative Absence Policy Template streamlines managing non-holiday/sickness absences, fostering fairness and reducing disruptions.
Our Annual Leave Policy template simplifies time-off requests, ensures fair allocation, and fosters a well-rested workforce for better productivity.
Use this model policy to detail the rules and arrangements for a scheme that allows your employees to buy or sell annual leave.
A practical career break policy template that supports extended employee leave while balancing organisational needs.
Our Carers Leave Policy outlines entitlements and procedures, offering support and flexibility for employees balancing work and caregiving responsibilities.
Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Policy Template ensures employees have access to professional support, fostering a positive and resilient workforce.
Our Jury Service Policy Template ensures clarity and fairness in managing employee obligations and rights during jury service.
Our Parental Bereavement Leave Policy Template offers compassionate support, helping employees cope with loss while maintaining work-life balance.
Our Sabbatical Policy Template empowers employees to take a break for personal growth, reducing burnout and enhancing long-term productivity.
Sick absence policy template for UK employers covering sickness reporting, fit notes, absence reviews, return to work, long-term absence and employee support.
Our Time Off for Dependants Policy Template aids employees during family emergencies, ensuring compassionate support without work worries.
Our Timekeeping Policy Template promotes punctuality, accountability, and efficient workflow management for a more productive work environment.
Our Unauthorised Absence Policy Template tackles absenteeism, enforces accountability, and maintains a productive work culture.
Absence Review Meeting Invitation Letter for UK employers to review sickness absence, attendance concerns, medical information and possible next steps.
Our Concern about absence Letter template is used to notify an employee that you have a concern over their level of absence, that may warrant disciplinary action should it happen again.
Our End of Company Sick Pay confirmation Letter Template notifies employees of the cessation of company sick pay, maintaining transparency and clarity in benefits communication.
A clear template to formally confirm the end of an employee’s statutory sick pay entitlement, ensuring compliance and clarity.
Our Fit Note First Request Letter Template streamlines the process of requesting a fit note from an employee, ensuring compliance with UK employment regulations.
Our Fit Note Second Request Letter Template helps efficiently address unsubmitted fit notes, ensuring timely completion.
Long term absence dismissal letter for UK employers confirming capability dismissal, medical evidence, reasonable adjustments, notice, final pay and appeal rights.
Our Long Term Sick Absence Review Meeting Invitation Letter template invites employees to a meeting to discuss extended absences, ensuring a supportive and structured approach.
If you need to contact an employee's GP to obtain a medical report, issue this model letter to request their consent.
If you need a medical report from an employee's GP for guidance on their condition or capability, send this model request letter template.
Our requirement for employee to take annual leave letter template ensures employees use their full annual leave entitlement within a specified period to comply with legal obligations.
Short-term absence review meeting outcome letter for UK employers to confirm sickness absence discussions, support, attendance expectations and next steps.
Suspension on Medical Grounds Letter for UK employers to confirm health and safety suspension, pay arrangements, medical assessment, review and return to work.
Our Sympathy for Illness (Employee at Home) Letter template expresses support and care for employees facing illness at home, maintaining a compassionate tone.
Our Sympathy for Illness (Employee in Hospital) Letter template extends sincere support to employees hospitalized due to illness, offering understanding and comfort.
Our Termination of Employment (Long-Term Sick) Letter template communicates the termination due to extended sickness, maintaining professionalism and clarity in the process.
Use this model uncertified sick leave letter to request that an employee submits a medical note for their absence, and highlight that their sick leave is unauthorised without it.
To be completed by the subject of the request and returned to the employer.
Return to work interview form for UK employers to record sickness absence discussions, employee wellbeing, support, adjustments and return-to-work actions.
Our Absence Review Meeting Script Template facilitates constructive discussions, identifying causes and solutions for improved attendance.
Our concern about absence meeting script template guides managers through structured conversations with employees about their attendance, aiming to understand the reasons behind their absences and collaboratively develop a plan for improvement.
Concern about lateness or timekeeping meeting script for managers covering attendance concerns, employee explanations, agreed improvements, support and follow-up arrangements.
Long-term sick absence review meeting script for UK employers.
Our Long Term Sick Absence Review Meeting Invitation Script Template streamlines the process, ensuring timely and sensitive communication with employees.
Our Pre-Consent Notification For Medical Report Request Email script template simplifies the process of obtaining consent, ensuring clear and compliant communication.
Return to work interview script for UK employers, helping managers discuss sickness absence, wellbeing, support, reasonable adjustments and a successful return to work.
Our Absence Improvement Checklist Form Template streamlines tracking and managing employee absences, enhancing productivity and reducing absenteeism.
Our Long Term Sick Absence Management Plan Template facilitates structured support for employees on extended sick leave, ensuring consistent management practices.
More than just templates, the Sick management Knowledge Hub brings together practical HR guidance, real-world experience and tried-and-tested resources to help you understand the subject, manage it effectively and make informed decisions.
Sickness absence management focuses specifically on supporting employees who are unable to work because of illness or injury while maintaining appropriate attendance and operational arrangements. The subject covers sickness absence, sick leave, fit notes, return to work, welfare contact, occupational health, medical information and reasonable adjustments, and forms an important part of effective people management and, where relevant, workplace compliance.
For employers, getting this area right involves more than having a policy or form in place. Employers need to record absence accurately, maintain appropriate contact and consider medical information, disability and reasonable adjustments where relevant. A supportive but structured approach can help employees return safely while reducing unnecessary disruption. The process should be proportionate to the circumstances, applied consistently and supported by accurate records so that managers understand what to do and employees understand what is expected of them.
The Sick management Templates Toolkit brings these requirements together in a practical collection of HR documents covering sickness reporting, return-to-work arrangements, welfare contact, medical or occupational health referrals, reviews and outcome records. The templates are designed to support the key stages of the process, from planning and communication through to meetings, decisions, follow-up actions and record keeping.
This approach can help employers improve consistency between managers, reduce avoidable administration and create a clearer audit trail. It can also help organisations identify issues earlier, make better-informed decisions and manage the employee experience more effectively.
HRDocBox templates are developed from practical UK HR experience and are designed around the processes employers and HR professionals actually need to manage. The content takes account of relevant UK employment law, ACAS guidance and established HR practice, while recognising that individual circumstances and organisational policies will determine how a particular situation should be handled.
HRDocBox regularly reviews and updates its template library as employment law, ACAS guidance and practical HR requirements develop. This means employers have a professionally considered starting point that can save the time and effort involved in creating, maintaining and continually reviewing their own HR documentation from scratch. Templates should still be tailored to the organisation's circumstances and used alongside its own policies, procedures and appropriate professional advice where required.
A sick management process provides a structured way to manage employee sickness absence and support a return to work. It will typically follow these key stages:
Absence management is not just about attendance. The approach should consider the reasons for absence and any appropriate support.
Understand the common mistakes employers can make when managing this area of HR, helping you reduce risk, prevent unnecessary costs and ensure the process is handled fairly, consistently and correctly.
Here we show you which resources to use to effectively address an emerging absence concern, taking into account the different decisions and directions that are likely / possible.
Following this flowchart will ensure that you factor in all eventualities, follow legal / code of conduct or best practice processes, communicate effectively, and reduce the risk of things going wrong.
An employee has long-term sickness absence. The manager maintains appropriate contact, obtains occupational health advice and considers recommended adjustments before deciding whether formal absence management is appropriate.
The manager and HR then follow the relevant sick management process, making sure the facts are established, responsibilities are clear and the employee or other parties involved understand what is expected. Key decisions, evidence and actions are recorded so that the business has a clear and proportionate record of how the matter was handled.
The position is reviewed afterwards rather than treating the initial action as the end of the process. Any outstanding actions, training, support, adjustments, payments, documentation or follow-up meetings are given clear ownership and timescales. This helps the organisation demonstrate consistent practice, identify recurring issues and reduce the risk of the same problem happening again.
Sickness absence management is the process of supporting employees who are absent because of illness while maintaining appropriate attendance and business arrangements.
Return-to-work discussions can help employers understand the reason for an absence, identify support needs and ensure records are accurate.
The timing depends on the circumstances, length and frequency of absence and the employer's policies. Formal reviews may be appropriate where absence becomes prolonged or frequent.
Employers can request appropriate medical evidence in certain circumstances, subject to applicable rules and the employee's rights.
In some circumstances, prolonged or persistent absence may lead to a formal capability or absence management process. Employers should consider the individual circumstances and appropriate support.
HRDocBox combines real-world HR experience, subject-matter expertise and commercial understanding to support effective sickness management with practical, tried-and-tested resources. With instant access, editable documents, ongoing updates and 12 months' access, you get practical HR support when you need it.
How this content is developed and reviewed
The Sick management templates toolkit is developed using a practical HR methodology that considers current UK employment legislation, ACAS guidance, CIPD good practice and the real-world HR process it supports. Templates and supporting information are regularly reviewed and updated, with additional reviews triggered by significant changes to legislation, guidance or established HR practice, helping ensure each document remains practical, relevant and suitable for UK employers.
Darryl Horn, Chartered HR Director
Darryl is a Chartered HR professional with over 25 years' experience in senior HR and employee relations roles.
He has extensive practical experience of managing sick management HR processes and founded hrdocbox to provide businesses with practical, professionally developed HR resources grounded in UK employment law and best practice.
HRDocBox has been creating practical UK HR documents since 2009.
"Darryl provides support and advice with excellent judgement, and has a strong understanding of people, policies and UK employment legislation."
"He is someone I trust; consistent, dependable, and committed to doing things properly."
Whether you employ 5 people or 50, hrdocbox gives you the structure, documents and expertise needed to manage employees professionally and legally.
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