UK Employment Law on Sickness Absence

This page covers England, Scotland and Wales. The provisions cited from the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Equality Act 2010, the Working Time Regulations 1998 and Part XI of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 extend to those three nations (legislation.gov.uk, linked below). Northern Ireland has its own employment law, including the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

The framework at a glance

Sick pay

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum an employer must pay an eligible employee who is too ill to work. Since 6 April 2026 it is paid from the first full day of sickness, to employees on any earnings, at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower (GOV.UK). It is paid for up to 28 weeks (GOV.UK, SSP employer guide). The law is in Part XI of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

An employer can pay more through a company sick pay scheme but not less than SSP (GOV.UK). Our Statutory Sick Pay guide covers eligibility, the rate, linked periods and records.

Evidence of sickness

Employees can self-certify for the first 7 days of sickness, counting non-working days. For SSP, an employee cannot be required to provide medical information for those 7 days (Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1985, reg 2(2)). After 7 days in a row the employee must give a fit note, which a GP or hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist can issue (GOV.UK, taking sick leave). See our fit notes guide.

Disability, pregnancy and other protected absence

Three sections of the Equality Act 2010 shape how absence can be counted:

• Discrimination arising from disability (s15). An employer discriminates if it treats a disabled person unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability, and cannot show the treatment is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It does not apply if the employer did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, about the disability.
• The duty to make reasonable adjustments (s20). Where a provision, criterion or practice puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled, the employer must take reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage.
• Pregnancy and maternity discrimination (s18). An employer discriminates against a woman if, in or after the protected period of her pregnancy, it treats her unfavourably because of the pregnancy or because of illness she suffered in that period as a result of it. The words "or after" apply from 1 January 2024 (Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023, reg 2).

Acas gives examples of reasonable adjustments for absence: not counting some or all disability-related sickness absence towards trigger points, raising the number of absences that triggers a review, and recording disability-related absence separately (Acas, disability-related absence). It also suggests an employer can decide that absence related to disability or pregnancy will not count towards review points (Acas, absence trigger points).

Managing absence fairly

To dismiss fairly, the employer must show the reason. Two of the potentially fair reasons are the employee's capability, which includes capability assessed by reference to health, and their conduct (Employment Rights Act 1996, s98(1) to (3)). Whether the dismissal is fair then depends on whether the employer acted reasonably in treating that reason as enough to dismiss, taking account of the size and administrative resources of the business (s98(4)).

Acas says employers should follow a fair procedure in line with the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures for any discipline case, and that the procedure followed will be taken into account if the case reaches an employment tribunal. The Code mainly applies to employees. Acas also says review points should not automatically trigger disciplinary action, and that if an employer believes an absence is not genuine it may need to deal with it as misconduct (Acas).

Our guides to absence warning letters and return-to-work interviews cover the procedure in practice.

Holiday and time off for dependants

Workers are entitled to 4 weeks of annual leave under regulation 13 and 1.6 weeks of additional leave under regulation 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998, 5.6 weeks in all, capped at 28 days (reg 13; reg 13A). Most workers on a 5-day week get at least 28 days, and an employer can include bank holidays in that entitlement (GOV.UK, holiday entitlement). Irregular hours and part-year workers have had separate rules for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024 (reg 13(A1); GOV.UK). Statutory holiday keeps building up while an employee is off sick, however long they are off (GOV.UK). See our holiday entitlement guide.

Employees also have a right to reasonable time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant, such as a sick child or a breakdown in care (Employment Rights Act 1996, s57A). It is not sickness absence. See our time off for dependants guide.

The Bradford Factor and trigger points

No law sets absence trigger points. Acas says there are no legal rules about how or when absence should be reviewed. Review points are usually based on the number of absences in a period or the length of an absence. If you use them, set them out in your absence policy, say what happens when one is reached, and be flexible and sensitive to individual circumstances. When using them you must not discriminate (Acas, absence trigger points).

If you use the Bradford Factor as a review point, its trigger levels are your company's own choice, as no law sets them. Our Bradford Factor guide explains the formula, and the Bradford Factor calculator works out a score. Our absence policy guide covers review stages.

Absence records and health data

Sickness records include information about a worker's physical or mental health, so holding them means processing special category data, and you need a lawful basis and a special category condition. The ICO distinguishes these from absence records, which may give the reason as "sickness" but contain no details of a medical condition. A simple absence record is not likely to be special category data, and the ICO suggests using absence records instead of sickness records where practical. Use sickness records only in ways workers would expect (ICO, how do we handle sickness and injury records).

Where Appsentia fits

• Works from leave types and dates. It does not store diagnoses or medical certificates.
• Calculates the Bradford Factor and alerts you when an employee reaches one of your company's own trigger points.
• Keeps the leave types or single absences you exclude, such as disability-related or pregnancy-related absence, out of scoring.
• Loads UK bank holidays for each nation from GOV.UK.
• Shows each employee's company sick pay used and remaining for UK companies. It does not calculate Statutory Sick Pay.
• Imports leave from a CSV or Excel export of any HR or payroll system.

Our UK guides

• Statutory Sick Pay: A Guide for Employers
• Fit Notes: What UK Employers Need to Know
• The Bradford Factor in the UK: Guide for HR
• Absence Policy and Trigger Points (UK)
• Absence Warning Letters Under the Acas Code
• Return-to-Work Interviews: A UK Guide
• UK Holiday Entitlement: The 5.6 Weeks Rule
• Time Off for Dependants: UK Employer Guide
• UK Sickness Absence Rates: ONS Figures

Sources

1. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 98 and section 57A, legislation.gov.uk.
2. Equality Act 2010, section 15, section 18 and section 20, legislation.gov.uk.
3. Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 13 and regulation 13A, legislation.gov.uk; GOV.UK, Holiday entitlement.
4. Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, Part XI; Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1985, legislation.gov.uk.
5. GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: employer guide; Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026; Taking sick leave.
6. Acas, Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures; Absence trigger points, last updated 29 November 2024; Disability-related absence.
7. ICO, How do we handle sickness and injury records? The ICO notes this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.

Sources checked on 11 November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.