Sickness and absence

This topic considers the legal issues in dealing with sickness and sickness absence and the rules of statutory sick pay (SSP) and occupational sick pay.

There are a number of circumstances in which an employee may report a sickness, or other, absence from work. Sickness absence can be caused by:

  1. long-term or chronic illness

  2. intermittent, short-term sickness, where the absence is authorised and the symptoms are genuine

  3. ‘malingering’, ie an employee claiming to be sick, but they are not

  4. pregnancy-related sickness, and

  5. stress and mental ill health

The procedure that the employer should adopt and the approach of the tribunals in determining the fairness of any resulting dismissal differ in each case.

For template policies that an employer can use to manage sickness and absence in the workplace, see Precedents:

  1. Policy and procedure—performance and capability

  2. Policy and procedure—performance and capability (short form)

  3. Policy and procedure—sickness and attendance

  4. Policy and procedure—sickness and attendance (short form)

Dealing with long-term or chronic sickness

Dealing with an employee who is off sick for long periods, or for one continuous,

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Latest Employment News

Right to work guidance updated on Digital Verification Service checks

The Home Office has issued an updated version of its ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ document, with the changes primarily related to simplifying the information on digital checks for employers of British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport (or Irish passport card). The new version has removed various technical details which were previously intended for providers of these digital verification services, and revised the relevant terminology, so that ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS)’ now includes both the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This is stated to align the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity and attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now set out in a separate, supplementary code for digital right to work checks. The relevant guidance for employers has been revised. Although it is not currently mandatory for employers to use a DVS certified against the ‘trust framework’ and the supplementary code, this position will change ‘in the near future’, and it will become mandatory to use a DVS listed on the register of certified DVS (maintained by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA)). In other changes, the new version reiterates that an original expired BRP is not proof of a right to work, and instead an online check must be taken. It also confirms that short-term entry clearance vignettes are being phased out, and that increasingly persons recently issued entry clearance will only have their eVisa to rely on for these purposes, so will need to create a UKVI account as soon as possible and can do this from overseas. In relation to asylum seekers with a pending claim, the guidance now states that they can also volunteer whilst their claim is considered without being granted permission to work, but they can only carry out 'paid' work if they have been granted permission to work under the Immigration Rules, Part 11, paras 360 or 360C. Previously the reference in our quotation marks to ‘paid’ work stated ‘voluntary’ work

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