Managing Sickness Absence - What Managers Need To Know

Managing sickness absence can be one of the most challenging responsibilities for managers. Balancing operational pressures, employee wellbeing, and legal compliance is rarely straightforward – particularly when dealing with complex situations such as long-term absence, mental health conditions, or recurring short-term absences.

In this practical webinar, we’ll explore how managers can handle sickness absence confidently and fairly, while reducing the risk of grievances, discrimination claims and unfair dismissal.

Using real-life case examples and common workplace scenarios, we will look at how managers should approach difficult situations, including when absences are linked to disability, when medical advice is unclear, and when absence levels begin to affect the wider team.

We will also examine the changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) introduced through the Employment Rights Act 2025 on 6 April 2026, including how the new rules affect eligibility and payment arrangements, and what this means in practice for absence management processes.