Effective Sickness Management (3 hours)
Dates and Venues
13 February 2025 9.30am – 12.30pm, Newburn Activity Centre
Overview
Regular staff attendance is paramount to an organisation’s operational effectiveness. High levels of sickness absence can have a detrimental impact not only on school budgets, but also on students and other staff. Aimed at school leaders with line management responsibility at all levels, this session will equip delegates to have the confidence to effectively manage both frequent short-term and long-term absences.
From early intervention in both short and long term sickness absence through the return to work and dismissal processes, we will provide practical examples and interactive case studies to guide delegates through legislation, procedure and best practice.
Course Outline
The session will cover:
• Reporting absence and early intervention
• Using trigger points, indicators and tools to identify absence trends
• Self-certification and fit notes
• Effective use of return to work meetings
• Use of Occupational Health services and other employee wellbeing interventions
• How to manage persistent or frequent short-term absences
• How to manage long term absences including chronic long-term absences, and disabilities
• Implementing and managing a phased return to work
• Relevant legislation and best practice including what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’ under the Equality Act 2010 and access to medical records
• Effective use of sickness absence/attendance review meetings
• Strategies to consider when attendance does not improve or there is no prospect of a return to work in the foreseeable future
• Medical redeployment and ill health retirement
• How to manage termination of employment on the grounds of capability due to ill health
