UNCLASSIFIED
1
ABSENCE MANAGEMENT POLICY
This instruction applies to :-
Reference :-
All staff directly employed by NOMS (including
HMPS)
AI 09/2010
PSI 18/2010
Expiry Date
Issue Date
Effective Date
Implementation Date
3 March 2010
22 March 2010
21 March 2013
NOMS Agency Board
Issued on the authority of
For action by
Directors of Offender Management, Regional Managers
Custodial Services, Governors, Heads of Group, HR Shared
Services.
For information
All staff in NOMS HQ and prison establishments.
Contact
Shared Services HR Contact Centre
 0845 010 3504 (VPN 7190 3504)
Associated documents
Replaces the following documents which are hereby cancelled :PSO 8404 (Attendance Management policy) Chapter 1 – paragraph 1.1
Staff Handbook –
paragraphs 7.32–7.39 (Arrangements in the event of public transport disruption)
11.9 (Occupational Health appointments)
11.28 - 11.29 (Contact with infectious diseases & Notifiable infectious diseases)
Home Office Notice 147/2002 (Disability Leave)
Audit/monitoring :
Governors and Heads of Group will ensure local records are kept and monitored to demonstrate
compliance with the mandatory actions set out in this Instruction.
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 1
CONTENTS
Section
Title
Applicable to
1
Executive summary
All staff
2
Time off for attending Medical and Dentists Appointment
(including Opticians)
All staff
3
Time off for Elective, cosmetic and lifestyle treatment
All staff
4
Disability leave
All staff
5
Occupational Health Appointments
All staff
6
Infectious and notifiable diseases
All staff
7
Arrangements in the event of severe weather or disruption
to transportation systems.
All staff
PSI 18/2010 & AI 09/2010
Issue date 03/03/2010
UNCLASSIFIED
1.
Page 2
Executive summary
Background
1.1
This Instruction sets out policy on a range of circumstances when staff may require to be
absent from work. It does not cover the following where there are separate policies:

Annual leave

Family Leave (maternity, adoption, paternity)

Parental Leave

Special Leave

Career Breaks

Sickness Absence
1.2
The policy set out in this Instruction applies to all those directly employed by NOMS
(including HMPS), and replaces all previously issued guidance on this subject. For each
area covered policy remains fundamentally unchanged although it has been updated to
reflect organisational changes including the new HR operating model. It also reflects
revised occupational health and public health procedures.
Desired outcomes
1.3
This Instruction aims to ensure that:

common minimum standards for absence are maintained across the estate; and

decisions are based on the facts of the individual case and are free from any
unlawful bias. All Absence Management policy and procedures must be legally
compliant and applied fairly and consistently to all staff. This applies to all stages of
the process including entitlement, application, decision making and implementation.
They will be monitored and audited to ensure compliance.
Application
1.4
All staff must be familiar with all sections of this policy.
1.5
All managers with line management responsibility for agreeing time off are required to read
and follow all sections of this policy as required.
Mandatory actions
1.6
All staff must be aware of the mandatory actions that apply to employees’ absence from
work.
1.7
All line managers must comply with the mandatory actions in all sections of this Instruction
when managing staff absence.
1.8
Governors and Heads of Group must ensure that the mandatory actions in all sections of
this instruction are complied with.
Resource Impact
1.9
There will be no direct resource impact on staff in NOMS headquarters or in prison
establishments resulting from this Instruction as there has been no fundamental change to
existing policy.
For further information please contact:
Shared Services HR Contact Centre
 0845 010 3504 (VPN 7190 3504)
(signed)
Robin Wilkinson
Director of Human Resources
PSI 18/2010 & AI 09/2010
Issue date 03/03/2010
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 3
Time off for attending Medical and Dentists appointments (including Opticians)
2.1
Staff should schedule medical and dentists appointments (including opticians) outside of
normal working hours. Exceptionally, when this is not possible employees should seek to
arrange appointments that minimise the disruption to work, and paid time off should be
allowed. Evidence of appointments should be provided if requested by the manager.
2.2
A sympathetic approach should be taken to staff who are undergoing specialist treatment
particularly in relation to facilitating paid time off to attend appointments.
Time off for Elective, cosmetic and lifestyle treatment
3.1
Elective, cosmetic or lifestyle surgery is surgery that is not considered to be medically
necessary. This includes cosmetic surgery, which is concerned with the enhancement of
appearance through surgical and medical techniques, e.g. face-lifts or breast implants. It
also includes other medical procedures such as laser eye treatment, vasectomies, the
removal of bunions and the removal of warts. This policy does not cover gender
reassignment surgery, which is dealt with under a separate policy.
3.2
Time off for these types of treatments should be in the employee’s own time. Time off
should be facilitated by sympathetic rostering and by allowing annual/TOIL/flexi/unpaid
leave to be taken when appointments have been scheduled and for surgery to take place.
Staff should try and minimise disruption to work by arranging appointments at a time which
will cause the minimum amount of inconvenience. Evidence of appointments should be
provided if requested by the Manager. Further guidance about providing time off in these
circumstances is available on the My Services website.
3.3
Any information provided to the line manager will be maintained in strict confidence. The
reason for the employee's absence will be disclosed only on a "need-to-know" basis and in
consultation with the employee.
3.4
Where the reason for the absence is disclosed line management must ensure that the
employee is treated with sensitivity and dignity. Inappropriate jokes or comments about the
employee's surgery should be dealt with under the policy on dealing with harassment
complaints.
3.5
If someone as a result of the treatment/surgery becomes sick then normal attendance
management provisions apply.
Disability Leave
4.1
Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, employers may be required to make
‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable or assist disabled employees to remain in employment.
Disability leave is an example of a reasonable adjustment. It allows reasonable absences
during working hours for rehabilitation, assessment and treatment (where this is directly
linked to the nature of the person's disability and is not sick absence in the general sense).
If approved as disability leave, absences of a day or more for rehabilitation, treatment and
assessment count as leave with pay and must be recorded separately from sick absence.
4.2
Any disabled employee may apply for disability leave which may be taken to cover:
 short term absences such as occasional days;
 longer term absences of a number of weeks; or
 intermittent absences as part of an agreed pattern of part-time working during a
period of rehabilitation.
PSI 18/2010 & AI 09/2010
Issue date 03/03/2010
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 4
4.3
The amount of disability leave required will vary from person to person according to their
individual circumstances. Each application must be decided in accordance with what is
reasonable given the circumstances of the disabled employee and their unit.
4.4
Disability Leave should not be used to cover periods of sickness absence whether or not
the sickness is directly related to the person’s disability.
4.5
Disability Leave should usually be applied for in advance. However, it may be applied for
retrospectively to cover unpredictable absences.
4.6
Full reasons for refusing disability leave must be given in writing to the employee and a
copy retained for local audit purposes
4.7
Guidance about disability special leave and examples of when it might be appropriate are
available on the My Service website.
Occupational Health appointments
5.1
Staff must co-operate with the scheduling of appointments and attend any Occupational
Health appointments made. Normally appointments will be scheduled by telephone by the
Service’s Occupational Health supplier and staff must provide their telephone contact
details for this purpose. Assessments may be conducted either face-to-face or by
telephone.
5.2
If, after giving reasonable notice and opportunity to attend, staff fail to do so a referral may
proceed and Occupational Health produce a report without the member of staff attending
an assessment. Conducting a referral on this basis may affect the prognosis, assessment
of eligibility for medical retirement or medical inefficiency compensation. In these instances,
after informing staff of the consequences of their failure to co-operate, management may
use the Occupational Health report and proceed with management of the absence,
including dismissal procedures.
Infectious and notifiable diseases
6.1
In certain cases of infectious disease, though the employee may feel well enough to return
to work, they may have been advised by their GP, their local Health Protection Unit (HPU)
or Occupational Health (OH) to stay away from work for a period of time until they no longer
present a risk to public health. Paid special leave will be granted on provision of the written
advice of the medical practitioner (the GP, the HPU or OH), who will provide the employee
with this with their consent.
6.2
Contact with notifiable diseases. Rarely, a GP or the Health Protection Agency (HPA) may
advise an employee to stay away from work because they have been in contact with a
notifiable disease (though not suffering from it themselves) and may pose a risk to public
health – such advice should be followed by the employee. Special leave with pay will be
granted on the provision of the written advice of either the GP or the medical officer of the
HPA, who will provide the employee with this with their consent.
Arrangements in the event of severe weather or disruption to transportation systems.
7.1
Employees have a contractual obligation to attend for duty at their place of work at the
appointed time, for the full period of contracted hours.
7.2
It is the duty of each member of staff to make arrangements to get to work on time. It is
recognised however that staff may, at times, experience severe difficulties in getting to and
from work as a result of inclement weather and/or disruption to travel services. However,
staff are expected to make all reasonable attempts to attend work even if this means they
arrive late.
PSI 18/2010 & AI 09/2010
Issue date 03/03/2010
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 5
7.3
Staff may experience difficulties in getting to or from work because of
 Severe weather conditions which cause delays or disruption to public or private
transport
 Major incidents or industrial action causing disruption to normal means of
transportation
7.4
Governors and Heads of Group will have in place robust business continuity plans that
ensure that essential services are maintained in the event of any major disruption which
means that staff are unable to get into work.
7.5
Where it is known in advance that staff will not be able to get to work, or are likely to
experience significant difficulties in getting into their normal office, management may
authorise and organise, where appropriate, for staff to attend a NOMS location nearer
home or, provided this does not breach security, take work home with them. Essential staff
can where necessary be accommodated at or near work at the Service’s expense, where
this is both practicable and reasonable taking account of the conditions.
7.6
If staff are unable to get into work they must notify their line manager, or another manager
in their absence, that they are delayed or will not attend for duty. Failure to notify an
appropriate manager may count as unauthorised absence and be unpaid and lead to
disciplinary action. Where staff are not able to get to work they should, where practicable
and appropriate, work from home or subject to management authorisation and organisation
attend another NOMS office or location. Where staff choose to do so they can apply to take
time off as annual leave. Where staff have taken all reasonable steps to get into work and
working at home or attendance at another location is not possible then they should not be
required to take annual or flexi leave. Similar consideration applies to staff who are unable
to get home or return to work because of travel disruption after working away from their
normal place of work on official duties.
7.7
Where severe weather conditions or major travel disruptions develop during the working
day then, subject to essential services being maintained, managers should allow staff to go
home early. Where operationally necessary, arrangements may be made for essential staff
to be accommodated near work at the Service’s expense.
7.8
NOMS will reimburse extra expenditure which staff have reasonably and necessarily
incurred because of travel disruption.
7.9 Extreme weather conditions can also prevent staff from attending work because their normal
arrangements for the care of a child, elderly relative, or dependant, unexpectedly break down.
For example, schools and care centres may suddenly close. In these circumstances, staff
must make reasonable efforts to make alternative arrangements. Where staff are unable to
make alternative arrangements and so cannot attend work they may be eligible for special
leave.
PSI 18/2010 & AI 09/2010
Issue date 03/03/2010