Sickness absence - recording and monitoring

The University believes that it is a recognised and accepted part of any manager's responsibilities to monitor and control the attendance of staff at work, including the recording and monitoring of sickness absence. 

Responsibilities of departments

Departments are responsible for recording and monitoring all sickness absence amongst their academic-related and university support staff, including dates, duration and reason given for each absence.

Departments are also responsible for ensuring that such staff provide self-certification and/or medical certificates as necessary (self-certification for continuous absences of between four and seven calendar days, medical certificates for continuous absences of more than seven calendar days). Certificates should be retained by departments and not forwarded to Payroll.

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Academic staff

Academic staff are required to report sickness absence to ‘divisional contact’ and to provide self-certification or medical certificates as above. The nominated divisional contacts are therefore responsible for recording and monitoring sickness absence amongst academic staff.  Further information about Sick leave for academic staff.

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Notification to Payroll

Requirements for showing Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) on payslips were relaxed by the Government some years ago, provided that contractual sick pay was at least as good as SSP. As a result the University no longer records SSP on payslips, and hence the Payroll section does not record sickness absence unless and until the individual is transferred to either half or zero pay. Departments or, in the case of academic staff, divisional contacts, are responsible for authorising such reductions in pay, and must notify Payroll of any changes required in an individual’s pay as a result of sickness absence – such changes will not happen automatically.

It is not otherwise necessary to advise Payroll of sickness absence until the length of the absence exceeds four months. Notification should be in writing and signed by an authorised Payroll signatory. Note, however, that periods of absence of more than four days' duration which occur within 8 weeks of each other can be 'linked', and therefore need to be taken into account when reporting absences that exceed four months.

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Work-related sickness absence

If there is any possibility that sickness absence may have been caused or exacerbated by work, or working arrangements (including, for example, conditions such as asthma, musculoskeletal disorders, or stress-related illnesses), the circumstances should be notified without delay to the University Occupational Health Service (tel.(2)82676). The Service will seek to establish a diagnosis, in conjunction, as required, with the individual's medical advisers.

Where appropriate, the Service will involve the Safety Office, as certain medical conditions may be reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), and may in any case indicate the need for a safety investigation. Further details are provided in Safety Policy S4/00 ‘Accident and Incident Reporting’.

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Third party claims for absence caused by an accident

If a member of staff is absent from work as the result of an accident or injury that happens whilst he or she is not at work, and that is caused by another person (e.g. a car accident), damages for loss of earnings may be recoverable from the person who caused the accident, who is referred to as the ‘third party’.

In this case, in order to enable the University to reclaim any sick pay which can be recovered from the third party, the following special arrangements will apply:

  • The University will not pay sick pay as of right, but will advance to the member of staff a sum not exceeding his or her normal entitlement to sick pay, on the understanding that, if he or she is awarded compensation for loss of earnings, he or she must refund to the University any such compensation received, subject to a maximum of the total sum advanced during the period of absence.
  • If such a refund is made, the period covered by the refund will be disregarded for the purpose of calculating entitlement to sick leave payments for any period of sickness. However, where no damages for loss of earnings are actually recovered, the University will waive its right to seek a refund and the period concerned will be regarded as normal sick leave.
  • The requirement to refund advances from damages received does not extend to any non-salary related compensatory awards, nor to payments made directly by an insurance company without reference to third party recovery.
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Data protection

Absence monitoring should be always be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998; in particular, employees should be told about the arrangements for monitoring their absence. This is best done during the induction of new employees when other systems are being explained.

The Data Protection Act also applies to all individual absence and medical records, which are likely to contain ‘sensitive personal data’. Please remember that such records are confidential, are likely to have to be made available to the employee concerned on request, and should, therefore, be made and held strictly in accordance with the requirements of the * Data Protection Act and the University’s policy on Data Protection (see also Personnel Services circular PERS(03)15 - Data protection (107kb) ).

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