Fit notes and return-to-work meetings.

Employees can self-certify for the first 7 calendar days off sick: they tell you they are ill, and no fit note is needed for those days.

Statutory Sick Pay has been paid from the first day of sickness since 6 April 2026. Our guide to SSP from April 2026 covers the pay.

You can ask for a fit note only when they have been off for more than 7 days in a row, counting days they don’t work.

• Since July 2022 it can come from a doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist.
• It doesn’t need an ink signature: an electronic fit note is valid.
• You can’t withhold SSP because a fit note arrives late. That is not the same as being late telling you they are sick: you don’t have to pay SSP for the days before they told you, unless they had a good reason for the delay.
• They can come back before it ends if they feel well enough.

A fit note either says someone is not fit for work, or that they may be fit for work with changes. The changes it can suggest are:

• a phased return to work;
• altered hours;
• amended duties;
• workplace adaptations, including working from home.

You don’t have to agree to them. Talk them through with the employee. If you can’t make the changes, or you don’t agree, they are treated as not fit for work.

A return-to-work meeting is not a legal requirement (Acas). Many employers hold one after every absence, because it helps someone settle back in and catches problems early. Acas suggests it:

• checks they are ready to be back, and whether they need support;
• tells them what changed while they were off;
• goes through any fit note advice;
• agrees a plan if needed, such as a phased return;
• reviews reasonable adjustments if they are disabled.

Keep it short and kind. It is a welcome back, not a disciplinary meeting, and what is said about their health belongs only with the people who need it.

No law says when to review someone’s absence. Many employers use trigger points, such as a number of spells in a year, or a Bradford factor score, to start a conversation.

Acas’s advice is that a trigger should never lead to disciplinary action by itself. You can decide that absence linked to disability or pregnancy doesn’t count towards it. Look at each person’s reasons before deciding anything.

Record each spell, its fit notes and anything agreed on return. Health information is special category data, so keep it apart from the rest of their file, and let only the people who need it see it.

In KivoHR, staff report sickness and say when they’re back from the app, and a fit note is asked for from the eighth day and chased. Each note’s dates, whether it says “may be fit” and the changes it suggests are kept where only HR can read them. If you turn on return-to-work interviews, each absence gets one, recorded with how it ended.