Sickness absence can involve reporting rules, review meetings, Occupational Health, adjustments, capability and pension questions. This hub helps Civil Service employees identify the route they are in and move to focused guidance without treating every absence review as a disciplinary process.
On this page
Start with the route you are actually in
Departments use their own sickness absence and attendance policies. The names, review points, sick pay rules and decision levels can differ. Start with the current policy, your meeting letter and any earlier written record. Work out whether the issue is routine absence management, a health assessment, a return-to-work plan, formal capability action or a pension application.
Routine sickness reporting
This covers notifying your manager, certification, contact while absent and return-to-work arrangements.
Attendance management
Repeated short absences or a longer period away may lead to review meetings under the department policy.
Occupational Health
OH provides work-focused medical advice. It can recommend support and adjustments, while management retains responsibility for workplace decisions.
Capability or dismissal risk
Where attendance or fitness for the role remains unresolved, the department may consider capability, redeployment or dismissal. These stages need careful preparation.
Choose the page that matches your situation
- Understand the Civil Service sickness absence process.
- Deal with a manager referral to Occupational Health.
- Prepare for an Occupational Health assessment.
- Understand what Occupational Health can and cannot recommend.
- Check consent, medical-report and confidentiality issues.
- Turn Occupational Health advice into a reasonable-adjustment request.
- Plan a return after sickness absence.
- Build a phased return or workplace support plan.
- Prepare for long-term sickness absence reviews.
- Respond to frequent short-term absence management.
- Handle sickness during a disciplinary or performance process.
- Respond when Occupational Health recommendations are ignored.
- Compare capability, redeployment and ill-health retirement.
- Prepare where sickness or capability dismissal is being considered.
- Build an appeal against a sickness or capability decision.
What the main documents usually tell you
| Document | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Sickness absence policy | Reporting rules, review points, formal stages, representation, sick pay and appeal routes. | This is the process management should be using. |
| Meeting invitation | Purpose, stage, attendees, possible outcomes and documents to be discussed. | A vague invite can hide whether the meeting is routine or potentially formal. |
| Fit note or medical evidence | Fitness for work, suggested changes and period covered. | It is one source of medical information and does not replace a full workplace discussion. |
| Occupational Health referral and report | Questions asked, work impact, recommendations, review period and consent position. | The usefulness of the report depends heavily on the referral questions and the accuracy of the information supplied. |
| Adjustment or support plan | Specific action, owner, start date, review date and what happens if it is ineffective. | Vague support promises are difficult to monitor or challenge. |
Immediate actions
Members can unlock: a stage-by-stage sickness and Occupational Health action plan, an evidence-file method, decision guides for referrals and adjustments, wording for difficult requests and preparation for capability, redeployment, dismissal or appeal.
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