Headings for a sickness policy, and a blank column for your rule.

What the rows are asking

Who this policy covers is the first decision. A worker and an employee are not the same word on GOV.UK, and a policy that says everyone without reading the contracts will over-promise. Reporting sickness is who they tell, and by when. Write the real channel. A group chat that nobody checks is not a reporting rule.

The first seven calendar days can be covered by self-certification. GOV.UK publishes an employee’s statement of sickness, form SC2, for that. After seven calendar days, ask for a fit note. A fit note says not fit for work, or may be fit for work. May be fit can suggest a phased return, altered hours, amended duties or workplace adaptations. Those suggestions are advice. If you cannot make the change, treat the person as not fit. You do not have to demand a further note that says they are fit to return once the fit note has ended.

Sick pay is the row people get wrong. This file does not contain a company rate, because inventing one would be a promise. Point at the contract, and at Statutory Sick Pay for the tax year you are in. From 6 April 2026 the weekly SSP figure used on this site’s calculator is the lower of £123.25 and 80% of average weekly earnings, and it can be due from the first full day of sickness. The calculator is an estimate. The policy should say where the real rule lives, not paste a number that will go out of date.

Privacy, and what Shiftbrook stores

The reason for the absence stays with the person and their manager. Do not turn a pattern of absence into a score, and do not put the medical detail on a rota the whole team can see. The privacy row is there so the policy says that out loud. Shiftbrook follows the same line: a sickness reason is not shown to colleagues, and the product does not store the fit note itself.

The return-to-work form is a separate file for the conversation after the absence. This policy template is the rule. The form is the note of one conversation. Use both only if you want both. Neither file writes into an organisation.

What the file does not do

It does not know your contracts, your sector, or whether someone is entitled to contractual sick pay above the statutory amount. It does not submit a fit note anywhere. Filling in Your wording does not create a policy inside Shiftbrook. If you move the rule into the way you work, you still record the absence on the leave page, and you still approve hours on a timesheet.

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.