Template
A blank note of the conversation after sickness.
A free return to work form. One row is one conversation: the dates, whether a fit note was seen, and what you agreed. Download the .xlsx. No email address.
Download the return to work form
The .xlsx is the file. Google’s guide shows how to upload it to Drive, or how to use File then Import, so the copy sits in your Drive. No email address is asked for here, and there is no Shiftbrook copy link.
How to use it
- Download the .xlsx. Nothing is emailed.
- On Form, use one row per conversation. Leave a cell blank rather than inventing a date.
- Fit note seen is yes or no for your file. Do not paste a diagnosis into Notes if the team will see the spreadsheet.
- If the note says may be fit, record whether you discussed a phased return, altered hours, amended duties or workplace adaptations.
- Upload the same file to Google Sheets yourself. There is no copy link on this page.
What the conversation is for
A return to work conversation is how you hear what the person needs on the first day back, and how you record what was agreed. It is not a medical examination, and the person filling in the manager column is not deciding fitness. The fit note, if there is one, already did the clinical part. Your job on this row is the workplace part.
The first seven calendar days of sickness can be self-certified. You will not have a fit note for many short absences, and the Fit note seen cell can say no without that being a problem. After seven calendar days, a fit note is the usual evidence. When that note ends, you do not have to ask for another one that says fit to return. If you want a conversation anyway, have it. Do not pretend the statute required a second document.
May be fit
A may-be-fit note can suggest a phased return, altered hours, amended duties or workplace adaptations. Those are suggestions. If you cannot make the change, treat the person as not fit for work and say so in Notes, in plain words, without the diagnosis. A phased return is a set of shifts you then put on the rota. This spreadsheet does not create those shifts.
Keep the reason private. The form has a notes column because some agreements need a sentence. It is not an invitation to write the illness in a file that lives in a shared drive with the whole team. Share it with the manager who needs it. Shiftbrook’s own sickness reason is similarly limited to the person and their manager, and the product still does not store the fit note.
What the file does not do
It does not calculate Statutory Sick Pay, and it does not know whether the days were qualifying days. The SSP calculator is the estimate for the 2026/27 weekly figure. It does not put the person back on the rota. You publish the shifts when they are actually returning.
The free plan covers up to 5 staff and one location on the first organisation. A 14-day trial of the paid plan needs no card. Approved hours in the product download as a CSV. Sending approved hours to Xero Payroll UK is not available until that connection works end to end.
Questions
Do I need a note that says fit to return?
No. When the fit note ends, you do not have to ask for a further note that says the person is fit to return.
What if we cannot make the adjustment?
Treat the person as not fit for work. The suggestions on a may-be-fit note are advice, not an order the workplace must be able to meet.
Does this file update Shiftbrook?
No. Record the absence in the product if that is where the team looks. This sheet stays on your computer.
Is an email address required?
No. The download is the file.
Sickness absence policy · Fit notes · SSP calculator · Leave