Logistics attendance policy

Co-op logistics attendance policy & sickness absence management process

We aspire to achieve attendance levels of 95% across our network, as this allows us to make sure we effectively and efficiently deliver the best possible service to both our customers and the communities we serve. We know there’ll be times when you can’t come to work – either because you’re ill or something else unexpected has happened.

It’s important we support you when you are unable to attend work and help you come back to work as soon as possible. As part of that process, we’ll also need to review absences to make sure we manage the overall impact on our business.

This policy sets out our overall approach to attendance management and covers all Logistics specific collective agreements across Warehouse and Transport (unless otherwise stated) and excludes the Lea Green and Cardinal Agreements (where separate policies and procedures are applied).

There’s also Appendix 1 - Managing Short Term Sickness Absence Process (available at the Logistics Hub) which outlines the steps we’ll follow to deal with short-term absence. And if you’re off sick for a prolonged period of time, the steps we’ll take to manage this are set out in Appendix 2 - Managing Ongoing Sickness Absence Process (also available at the Logistics Hub).

Crucial bits

Absence reporting procedure

If you can’t come to work for any reason, you'll need to let us know by following Appendix 3 - Absence Reporting Procedure (available at the Logistics Hub).

Sickness certification

You should self-certify any sickness absence up to and including seven calendar days using the Self-Certification Form. You need to fill this in and give to your manager. If you’re off sick for over seven days, you’ll also need to get a Fit Note from your doctor to cover your absence from the eighth day onwards. If you want to keep the original Fit Note that’s okay – your manager will take a copy.

Where possible, please send your Fit Note in via email to prevent any delays or it getting lost in the post. If you’re not sure how to send your Fit Note in, please speak to your manager.

We may ask you to get a Fit Note from your doctor before the eighth day of your absence – we’ll explain why - and the Co-op will pay you back if there’s a charge for this if you give us your doctor’s invoice.

Remember, any period of sickness absence which isn’t covered by self-certification, Fit Note or Return to Work Plan is classed as unauthorised absence. If you’re absent from work for any length of time, make sure that the documents you give us cover the whole time with no gaps.

Fit Notes do not need to be issued in the UK but do need to be clearly legible, on medical headed paper, and from a legitimate and traceable medical practice. The illness/condition should be written in English or should be easily translatable into English with the dates which you are unfit to work.

Sick pay & withdrawal of sick pay

We provide a company sick pay scheme that seeks to support colleagues when they are unable to come to work. Details of your sick pay are provided in your contract of employment, but please talk to your manager if you need any further information.

If you qualify for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and Co-op Sick Pay (CSP), then CSP will be paid as the difference between SSP and your normal wage. More information about SSP is available at www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay.

We may stop paying CSP in certain circumstances, relating to procedural or conduct matters, including the reasons outlined in Appendix 4 - Withdrawal of Company Sick Pay (available at the Logistics Hub). SSP may also be stopped if the rules around this payment haven’t been met.

It’s important that any circumstances that could lead to a colleague’s sick pay being ceased are investigated fully with the colleague. Managers must always contact ER Services before stopping sick pay.

If we decide to pay you CSP for a period where you’d only got SSP before, this will be paid in the next available payroll and we won’t make ad-hoc payments.

If a medical authority tells you that you mustn’t attend work after being in contact with a notifiable disease (you can find out more at gov.uk's webpage here), make sure you tell your manager as soon as possible and provide accompanying evidence. This will be classed as paid leave and won’t count towards the calculation of absence triggers where evidence is provided.

If you’re off sick because of a physical or psychological injury caused by a member of the public whilst in work, and we think the incident was serious enough for you to be absent, we’ll give you an agreed period of some paid leave and this won’t count towards the calculation of absence triggers. This is in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the site General Manager whose decision is final.

Occupational health

If you’re off sick, we may refer you to Occupational Health to ensure we get more information about your condition and how we can support your return to work. You don’t have to agree, but if you don’t, we’ll only be able to manage and make decisions about your absence based on the more limited information we’ve got.

Once your appointment is booked, it’s important you attend. If you need to cancel or reschedule, you must call them and your manager, giving at least two clear weekdays’ notice (not including the date you call and the date of your appointment). So, if your appointment is on a Thursday, you should tell them on the Monday if you can’t go, and if it’s booked for Wednesday, you should tell them the Friday before. You can find more information in the Occupational Health Guide (this is available on our intranet site - if you don’t have access to this please ask your manager for a copy).

Return to work meeting

Your manager will meet with you after every absence to talk about how you’re feeling. This discussion is important as it helps us to understand both whether you are ok to come back to work, and whether there is any additional support we can offer to you.

They will also talk to you about any adjustments suggested on your Fit Note or Return to Work Plan. They’ll record details of what you discuss in a Return to Work Discussion Form (this is available on our intranet site - if you don’t have access to this please ask your manager for a copy).

This meeting must take place on the day you return to work or at a date prior to your return. If you work in a safety critical role, including roles that involve driving or operating machinery, then the return to work meeting must happen before you start work again and your manager may also carry out a Risk Assessment (this is available on our intranet site - if you don’t have access to this please ask your manager for a copy) to make sure that you’re fit to return to work. If any changes need to be made to your work or working environment to support you to return to work, these will be recorded in a Work Adjustments Form.

In the meeting, your manager will ask you about the reason for your absence and about any concerns you may have. They may also talk to you about the impact of your absence and any next steps that might be taken. It’s important to tell your manager if you think there may be underlying reasons for your absence, or if you were absent for a work-related reason.

We will always do our best to accommodate reasonable adjustments, but please be aware that there will be times when this might not always be possible due to operational reasons. Where we can’t make adjustments, we will let you know the reasons why and discuss this with you, and in these circumstances you may need to stay off sick.

Further support for colleagues

We also offer several other services that colleagues can access for help and support when needed, outlined below:

• Colleague Support Programme - Remember we have a colleague support programme, which gives you access to a 24/7 colleague helpline – 08088 021 122. Rest assured this is a completely confidential, independent helpline which is free to access.
• Virtual Health Services - Confidential virtual health services for you and your immediate family 24/7. Access GP appointments when you need them. Call 0345 319 0484 and quote policy number 101500.
• Physiotherapy & Counselling - We understand some colleagues may benefit from further intervention or support like physiotherapy or counselling based on Occupational Health or our private GP provision. Where this is recommended and subject to availability, this will be supported by the Co-op logistics via our physiotherapy provider.
• Terminal Illness - Colleagues with terminal illnesses will be provided support on a case by case basis, agreeing with the colleague and their family what is right for them.

Sickness Absence Management Process

First and foremost, our focus will always be to encourage attendance and support colleagues when they are unable to attend work. We know that from time to time we may need to review and manage absences to ensure we minimise the overall impact on our business.

Absence triggers

In Co-op logistics we have a system of absence triggers in place to help us manage short term periods of absence, as set out in the Appendix 1 - Managing Short Term Sickness Absence Process (available at the Logistics Hub). These triggers are:

1. Three periods of absence in a rolling 12-month period (two if you’re within your probationary period)
2. Fourteen or more shifts of absence in a rolling 12-month period (Pro rata’d for part time colleagues)
3. Where an identifiable pattern of absence exists.

If you reach one of these absence triggers, you’ll be invited to an absence review meeting to talk about your level of attendance at work. At the end of this meeting your manager may give you an absence warning. Although we won’t do this for sickness absences that are pregnancy-related, we may ask you to provide evidence of this.

If you have a live absence warning and you’re absent again within the period that the warning remains live, you’ll be asked to attend a further absence review meeting, so your manager can discuss your absence levels and see whether things have got better since the absence was given. Absence warning levels and their durations are set out in the table below:

You should be aware that if your attendance fails to improve to the point where you are issued with a third absence warning, your next occasion of absence may result in dismissal.

Colleagues can appeal against an absence warning or the application of 3DW within 7 days of receiving an absence warning outcome.

Managers should always contact ER Services if they need advice about absence triggers or warnings.

Application of 3 Day Waiting (3DW) - excludes CWA, CTA, Ex-Portbury, Lea Green & Cardinal Agreements)

• We are providing some further guidance on the circumstances in which 3DW may be applied. This will now only be invoked when a colleague formally enters the absence management process and is issued with a 1st stage absence warning or any subsequent absence warnings. With effect from the date that the absence warning is issued, 3DW will be automatically applied to any subsequent absence that takes place within the duration that the warning remains live. (NB - As of the implementation date of this policy, ‘application of 3DW’ will no longer be issued as a separate sanction).
• Just so it’s clear, some examples are provided in Appendix 5 - Application of 3 Days Waiting (3DW) (available on the Logistics Hub) that explain in more detail what this may mean for you.
• Colleagues can appeal against an absence warning or the application of 3DW within 5 days of receiving an absence warning outcome.

Further things to think about

Sickness and holidays

If you’re off sick and have a pre-booked holiday that you’re too unwell to take, you can ask for the holiday to be cancelled so you can take it another time, which should be agreed with your line manager. Instead of using a holiday, you’ll be recorded as sick and receive any sick pay you’re eligible for. But you must follow the absence reporting procedure throughout that period of time - otherwise you won’t be able to change your holidays to sickness. Just so it’s clear, if your holidays are changed to sickness, this absence will count towards any absence triggers.

If you haven’t been able to take your holidays during the holiday year because you’ve been off sick for a prolonged period, you may be able to carry forward up to four weeks holiday into the next holiday year, pro-rata if you work part-time. Talk to your manager about the arrangements for this. Any holiday carry over must be authorised by the Depot General Manager, then managers should contact HR Services to organise for the holiday to be carried forward into the following holiday year. You must use any carried forward holidays within 18 months of the end of the holiday year in which you accrued them.

If you’re off sick for a prolonged period, you can choose to take holidays during your absence – contact your manager to discuss. Managers will then need to inform HR Services to make sure they get paid.

Disability-related absence

If you think you have a disability, talk to your manager about it and discuss any adjustments you need.

If you’re off sick due to a disability-related illness, your manager will try to support you to return to work. They might refer you to Occupational Health to find out more about your condition, how it may affect you at work and whether there are any adjustments we could make to help.

These absences might count towards the absence triggers in some circumstances. But it might be a reasonable adjustment to agree a revised absence trigger with you for absences related to a disability or to not include them when calculating absences triggers. If you have any questions or concerns about disability-related absence, speak to your manager. Managers should call ER Services for advice on revising absence triggers for colleagues with disabilities.

Phased return

If you’re coming back to work after an extended absence, you might need a phased return. This means you’ll return to work gradually, helping you get back up to speed and to check that any adjustments we’ve made are working. It’s important that regular reviews take place to ensure that the plan is working for you and supporting you back to full duties. A more formal review should take place towards the end of the agreed plan to ensure you are able to return to your full role.

Phased returns can include returning on reduced hours or doing amended duties. They usually last for 4-6 weeks but can be for up to 12 weeks in some circumstances. Any phased return will be based on the advice from Occupational Health or your GP.

Just so you know, if you’re working reduced days during a phased return, you’ll get paid for the actual days you work, even if that falls below your contract. Talk to your manager about options such as using holidays or any remaining sick pay for the days that you’re not working. Managers should speak to ER Services if they need advice about this.

Confidentiality and medical information

If you’re off sick, we’ll keep the reason for this as confidential as possible. But there may be times when your manager needs to discuss your medical condition with people other than the People Team, and they’ll agree this with you before sharing your information. See the Medical Information Policy on the intranet.

Third party accidents

If your absence is caused by an accident or act of negligence by a third party, you must tell your manager. If you get compensation for loss of earnings, you’ll need to refund the Co-op the equivalent amount for sick pay you’ve been paid. If the amount is repaid in full, the absence won’t be included when calculating your remaining sick pay, but it may be included when calculating absence triggers.