Q. What do I do if I’m sick? – Summary
All sickness absence should be reported to your line manager at the start of your working day.
If you are ill you will not receive your standard hourly pay, but you will be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provided that you satisfy the qualifying conditions. So that we can accurately calculate your SSP you should fill in a CHRIS/73 form and send it through to TES at temps@admin.cam.ac.uk Further detail on SSP can be found at Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) : Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Sickness for a period of over 7 consecutive days usually needs to be supported by a fit note, see When do I need a fit note? – NHS (www.nhs.uk) for further details.
You should keep your department and TES notified about your sickness and your expected return to work.
You should fill in the times you would have worked but were unable to do so because you were sick, on your timesheets. Doing this will mean you accrue holiday against the hours you would have worked – as you do against worked hours. See the timesheet guidance on Timesheets and getting paid | Human Resources (cam.ac.uk) for further details.
Q. Who do I need to inform when I am sick?
You must contact your supervisor asap when you know you will miss work due to sickness. If you are unable to get in touch with your supervisor, please contact the TES office and ask us to pass the message on for you.
You also need to:
- Fill in sickness on your timesheet
- Send a CHRIS/73 to the TES office
- Send in a fit note (doctor’s note) if you are sick for over 7 consecutive days.
Q. Do I get paid if I am sick?
You do not receive your usual payment when you are off sick. What you will receive is:
- You will accumulate holiday pay against the hours you missed due to sickness – in the same way that you accrue holiday pay against worked hours.
- You will be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provided that you satisfy the qualifying conditions. Further detail on SSP can be found at Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) : Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Q. Should I report part days of sickness?
A part day is where you work some of the day and are sick for some of it. If you work part time and you miss all of your working hours due to sickness then that is a full day missed.
- You must tell your supervisor if you are missing any of the working day due to sickness.
- You should fill in the hours missed due to sickness on your timesheet.
- You should not include part days on your CHRIS/73 form as SSP cannot be paid for part days.
Q. How do I mark sickness on my timesheet?
Full instructions on how to do this are shown on pages 4-6 of the Worker user guide: https://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/files/worker_user_guide.pdf
Q. What dates do I fill in on the Chris/73?
Fill in all the full days you were unfit for work, this includes:
- Days you missed all of your worked hours due to sickness
- Days you would have been unfit for work for the whole day, had they been work days, e.g. if you work Mon-Fri but were ill Thu, Fri and Sat – then you should include the Saturday in the form if you would not have been able to work on it due to sickness.
To note:
- A full day is your full working day, so if you work 4 hours a day and you missed all 4 hours due to sickness then that is a full working day.
- If you work any part of the day (even one minute) then that is not a full working day missed due to sickness so it should not be included on the form.
The date you return to work is your next worked day, so if you usually work Mon-Fri and are ill Thu-Sat, then you will fill in the Thu as the first day of sickness, the Sat as the last day of sickness and the Mon as the date you returned to work.
Q. How much SSP will I receive?
If you are eligible for SSP, the exact amount will be calculated by the Payroll section.
The weekly rate of SSP is the lower of
- the SSP rate (currently £123.25) or
- 80% of worker’s normal weekly earnings.
How much you receive will depend on your qualifying days (usually the number of days you were due to work that week) and the number of days you were sick.
Q. When do I need to provide a fit note (doctor’s note, sick note)?
If you are ill for more than 7 consecutive days (including non-work days) then a fit note is required from day 8 onwards.
See When do I need a fit note? – NHS (www.nhs.uk) for further details.
Q. What do I do if I am sick while I am on holiday?
You cannot receive holiday pay and SSP for the same period of time.
If you are sick (to the extent that you would have been unfit for work had it been a working day) while you are on a period of paid holiday (i.e. you planned to claim holiday pay to cover your absence) then if you wish to, you can cancel your holiday pay and receive SSP instead – you can only do this until the relevant timesheet goes to Payroll, after that the change cannot be made.
If you wish to do this:
- Explain the change to your supervisor, as they will need to authorise the timesheet.
- If you have not submitted your timesheet, fill in/amend your timesheet so
- It shows sickness for the hours you would have worked had you not taken holiday
- The holiday pay is removed from any sickness days
- If you have submitted your timesheet but it has not gone through payroll, contact the TES office and we can make the adjustment for you. For standard weeks, if you contact us by 9.30am on a Monday we can make this switch. We will need your supervisor’s confirmation of the hours you would have worked had you not been on holiday.
- Fill in a CHRIS/73 and send it to the TES office.
Q. What do I do if I’m sick on a period of ‘unpaid leave’ while still in an active assignment?
If you were not due to work for a day/days and you were not taking holiday pay to cover the period please
- Fill in a CHRIS/73 and send it to the TES office
- Fill in on your timesheet any times/days you did work and any times/days you would have worked if you had not been sick.
For example:
- It is agreed that there is no work for you the following week, you decide not to take it as holiday, but just have the week unpaid. During that week you are sick. There would be nothing to fill in on your timesheet, but please send in a CHRIS/73 indicating the period you were sick – depending on when you were sick, you may still be eligible for some SSP.
- You request not to work on Mon and Tue the following week as you have some appointments you need to go to, you decide not to take it as holiday but just have it unpaid. You usually work Mon-Fri and this week you are ill on the Mon – Thu. You should:
- Fill in a CHRIS/73 with the dates Mon – Thu as sickness dates and Fri as the date you returned to work.
- Fill in your timesheets as sickness for Wed and Thu and worked hours for Fri.
Q. What extra do I need to do if I am on long term/open ended sickness?
Please keep TES and your supervisor up to date with your sickness and with when you have returned to work – if you don’t tell us as soon as you have returned to work then it is possible your SSP will be overpaid and the overpay will need to be claimed back.
SSP is only payable for 28 weeks, if you are sick beyond that we will send you a SSP1 form that you can use to apply for other benefits.
If your assignment is still active you can continue to input sickness on your timesheet for the hours you would have worked had you not been sick.
If you wish to be paid out from your holiday pay when you are not receiving SSP please contact the TES office and we can arrange this for you.
Q. Can I choose to receive holiday pay instead of Statutory Sick Pay?
You cannot receive SSP and holiday pay for the same period of time.
If you are eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) then we would recommend you take that, as overall, that will give you the most advantage. I.e. you receive the SSP when you are off sick and then will still have your holiday pay for later in your assignment.
However, if you wish to receive the higher rate of pay for the week you are sick, then you can request to receive holiday pay instead of sickness pay. If you wish to do this you should:
- Fill in your sickness hours on your timesheet – you will still accumulate holiday against them.
- At the same time, contact TES via email and notify us of the period you would like treated as holiday pay instead of SSP. We will then arrange for the holiday pay to be paid out to you and if you are already receiving SSP we will temporarily close the SSP record.