Policies and Procedures

BARDNEY GROUP PARISH COUNCIL (BGPC)

SICKNESS AND ABSENCE POLICY

Bardney Group Parish Council need to measure and record sickness absence, and to know when and why we need to do something about it. This is why as a Council we record and keep all records relating to absence, in line with our Data Protection policy and Privacy Notice. These records will be kept as a hard copy. As an Employee, you need to know that you work for someone who cares about your health and welfare and as such we need you to follow this policy.

Employees Responsibilities

Employees must take responsibility for their own attendance at work and, if you are ill, your recovery and return to work. We expect you to:

1. Comply in a timely manner with our notification and certification procedures, whether set out in this policy or as notified from time to time, and maintain communication with us while you are absent from work.
2. Co-operate with a reasonable request for, and undergo, a medical and/or occupational health examination to produce a report from your GP and/or another doctor nominated by us and/or an occupational health adviser.
3. Provide sufficient information to us, as and when required, to keep us informed of your condition and prognosis.
4. Co-operate with us to implement any advice from medical and/or occupational health practitioners in order to facilitate a timely return to work.
5. Adhere to the policy and do nothing to aggravate or delay recovery, such as working for another employer or taking part in inappropriate social or sporting activities.

Reporting

All unauthorised absence must be reported to your Line Manager or the Parish Clerk within thirty minutes of your scheduled start time on the first day of absence. Contact should be made directly by the Employee, not by text message. Only in exceptional circumstances should partners, parents or friends ring on your behalf. You will be asked to give the reason for your absence, an indication of when you may return and details of any outstanding work that needs to be attended to in your absence. You will be required to fill in an absence form upon your return.

If your absence continues for more than one day you must keep your manager informed on every subsequent day for the first seven days, and then as agreed with your manager, but as a minimum on a weekly basis until your return.

If the absence is due to sickness and continues for seven days or less (Saturday and Sunday included), you must complete a Self-Certification form and give it to your manager.

1

If absence continues for more than seven days (Saturday and Sunday included), a ‘Statement of Fitness for Work’ (also known as a ‘Fit Note’) signed by your doctor or other treating doctor must be sent immediately to your manager, and thereafter for as long as the absence continues.

During all periods of absence your manager will maintain contact with you.

Elective Surgery

If you require emergency surgery as a result of a health condition, your period of time for recovery will be granted and the Council Sick Pay policy applies. Elective surgery is a non-essential surgical procedure that the employee has chosen to undergo for personal reasons, such as cosmetic surgery.

Whether or not a procedure is deemed elective or essential will need to be discussed with your Line Manager to determine the reason for the leave and whether or not the absence policy applies, in reference to pay and time off. When this has been determined, the Employee and Line Manager should agree an appropriate explanation for the reason for absence to their own team. Each case will be dealt with based on the individual circumstances.

If you are uncomfortable discussing a potential procedure with your line manager, please contact a director or, alternatively, another member of the management team.

Statement of Fitness to Work (Fit Note)

Where a Fit Note indicates that you may be partially fit for work, the doctor may have suggested ways of helping you get back to work; your Line Manager will discuss this with you. If you return to reduced hours, your pay will reflect this. If we aren’t able to make any adaptations or adjustments to help you return to work, your Line Manager will explain the reasons to you and will set a date for review. You may then use the doctor’s certificate as if the doctor had advised ‘not fit for work’.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

You will be entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), subject to regulations, for a maximum of 28 weeks in any period of entitlement. Payment of Council Sick Pay, if any, includes any SSP.

You will only receive SSP when you are absent for four or more days’ sickness, and only on days on which you would normally be working. SSP is not payable for the first three days of absence (called waiting days). The rate of SSP will vary depending on your normal weekly earnings and the statutory rate. You must also comply with our sickness absence reporting procedures and provide either a Self-Certificate – for absence of seven days or less, or a Fit Note – for over seven days.

2

Council Sick Pay (CSP)

Subject to the correct notification and certification process, the Council may, at its absolute discretion, pay CSP as detailed below, which will include any SSP in a 12-month rolling period.

During 1st year of service 1month full pay and 2 months half pay

During 2nd year of service 2 months full pay and 2 months half pay

During 3rd year of service 4 months full pay and 4 months half pay

During 4th and 5th years of service         5 months full pay and 5 months half pay

After 5 years’ service         6 months full pay and 6 months half pay

Further amounts of sick pay will be made at the Council’s absolute discretion.

If you are absent due to incapacity caused by a third party, or for an accident covered by insurance, any payments made by us under the Sick Pay scheme will be a loan. You or your personal representatives must include in any claim you make against a third party or insurance company, a claim in respect of that loan.

If an Employee abuses the sickness scheme or is absent on account of sickness due or attributable to deliberate conduct prejudicial to recovery or the employee’s own misconduct or neglect or active participation in professional sport or injury while working in the employee’s own time on their own account for private gain or for another employer sick pay may be suspended. The Council shall advise the employee of the grounds for suspension and the employee shall have a right of appeal to the appropriate committee of the Council. If the Council decide that the grounds were justified, then the employee shall forfeit the right to any further payment in respect of that period of absence. Repeated abuse of the sickness scheme should be dealt with under the disciplinary procedure.

An employee who is prevented from attending work because of contact with infectious disease shall be entitled to receive normal pay. The period of absence on this account shall not be reckoned against the employee’s entitlements under this scheme.

Where, for the purpose of qualifying for sick pay under the scheme, the Council requires a doctor’s statement from an employee, the Council will reimburse the employee the cost of such a statement on the provision of a receipt. An employee who falls sick during the course of annual leave shall be regarded as being on sick leave from the date of a doctor’s statement. Employees continue to accrue statutory holiday entitlement whilst off work. Any statutory holiday entitlement that isn’t used because of illness may be carried over into the next leave year. However, employees are expected to make every reasonable attempt to take accrued leave periodically throughout the current leave year.

3

Holidays during Absence

If you wish to take holiday whilst absent (in receipt of Council Sick Pay or SSP), you should book leave and have it authorised in the usual way. Sick Pay will not be paid in respect of any period that is taken as holiday.

The normal restrictions on carrying over holiday entitlement will apply. As such, any holiday accrued but not taken by the end of the holiday year will be lost. The exception to this is if you have not had the opportunity to take your minimum statutory holiday entitlement due to being absent for the whole or part of the holiday year. If this is the case, please speak to us.

Return-to-Work and Absence Meetings

When you return to work following any period of absence, your Line Manager will usually conduct a return-to-work interview. We want to establish: the reason for and because of your absence; that you are in fact fit to return to work; any medication that you may be taking; and whether we can do anything to assist you.

Bardney Parish Council Disciplinary Procedures will be used if an explanation for absence is not forthcoming or is not thought to be satisfactory.

Where your Line Manager is concerned about the level or pattern of absence, they may conduct an informal meeting with you, and/or monitor your attendance and/or deal with the situation under our disciplinary procedure.

Long-term Absence or Absences

In cases of long-term absence, we will normally keep in regular contact with you via your line manager, in order to keep up to date with your state of health and when you might be expected to return. The frequency of such contact will vary according to the particular circumstances and may, for example, be weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

We may seek to understand your medical condition by obtaining a medical report. We will then meet with you to discuss the content and any recommendations made, and your own view on the situation.

Termination of Employment

Whilst the Council will endeavour to support employees throughout periods of prolonged sickness, a heavy burden is thrown onto colleagues, and the Council is unable to plan work effectively. It may therefore be necessary to terminate employment so that a replacement may be recruited.

Medical/Dental Appointments

Appointments should be made where possible outside working hours, or at the start or end of the day where this is not possible. You must inform your line manager in advance of any appointments and may be asked to make the time up.

4

Compassionate Leave

An appropriate period of paid leave will be granted at the discretion of management in cases of bereavement involving immediate family. Apart from this, days off for attending funerals or religious services, etc. will be treated as being part of holiday entitlement unless otherwise agreed with the Parish Clerk.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay

If, sadly, you lose a child under 18 and were the legal parents or had primary caring responsibilities, you are entitled to two weeks bereavement leave. This also applies if you are a parent who has suffered a still birth after 24 weeks. You will be paid Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay if you have been continuously employed for 26 weeks up until the week preceding the death and meet the qualifying criteria for National Insurance limits.

Leave must be taken in a block of two weeks, or two single weeks, and must be taken within 56 weeks from the date of the child’s death. Notice in the first seven weeks after the death can be given before you are due to start on the first day. From the eighth week up until 56 weeks, the notice required is one week. You can cancel or change leave using the notice periods above.

Jury Service

If you must attend court for Jury Service or as a witness, please let us know as soon as possible and provide a copy of the court summons to support your request for time off work. Payment of salary during this period is at the absolute discretion of Bardney Group Parish Council. You will be able to claim an amount for loss of earnings, and we need you to provide us with this amount so that it can be deducted from any discretionary pay.

If you attend court and are told your services are not required that day, you must telephone us immediately and then return to work.

Time Off for Dependant Emergencies

We recognise the right of all employees to reasonable amounts of unpaid leave to deal with incidents involving a dependant: ‘any person who reasonably relies on you to make provision of care’. You may use this leave:

•         When a dependant is ill, injured, gives birth or is assaulted.

•         When care arrangements unexpectedly break down.

•         When a dependant dies.

•         To deal with an unexpected incident involving a child at school.

You should contact your line manager personally prior to the start of their working day and give the reason for and expected duration of the absence.

5

Severe Weather and Disruptions to Travel

Bardney Group Parish Council acknowledges that you may occasionally have problems travelling to and from work due to either severe weather conditions or major disruptions to public transport (for example, train strikes or accidents on the roads). Whilst we understand and are committed to protecting the health and safety of all our employees, we must also ensure that the business and our clients are not unduly disrupted by external factors.

We expect you to report for work regardless of the situation and should therefore make every effort to attend work in all circumstances. You should take steps to obtain advice on the situation from the appropriate external agencies, allow extra time for your journey or make alternative travel arrangements where appropriate. You will still be expected to attend work on time.

Arriving Late for Work or Leaving Early

Where Bardney Group Parish Council accepts that you have used your best endeavours to attend work, but you are unable to do so, we will assess your individual circumstances. If disruptions to travel occur during the working day, your manager will decide whether to allow you to leave early, depending on your individual circumstances. The following will be considered:

•         Make up the time at a later date.

•         Take any absence from work as part of your annual leave entitlement.

•         Take any absence from work as special unpaid leave (in this case, your pay  

           will reduce accordingly to take account of the hours/days you have not

           worked).

•         Be paid as if you had attended work on the day(s) of absence.

•         Work from home or otherwise work remotely.

Should Bardney Group Parish Council decide to close your place of work, and it deems that you are unable to carry out work at alternative places or from home, it will pay you your normal working hours.

Falsifying Claims

In the event of an employee taking time off fraudulently under any of the above sickness and absence policies, Bardney Group Parish Council will investigate, and disciplinary action may be taken.

January 2026