What Are the Alternatives to the Bradford Factor for Managing Sickness Absence?

The Bradford Factor is one way of monitoring sickness absence, but it isn't the only option.

Some employers prefer much simpler trigger points based on the number of days and occasions of sickness within a rolling period. So, what are the alternatives to the Bradford Factor, and do employers need to use a scoring system at all?

There is no legal requirement to use the Bradford Factor. Employers can choose another way of identifying when sickness absence needs to be reviewed, provided their approach is fair, clearly communicated and takes individual circumstances into account.

For many businesses, straightforward sickness absence trigger points can be easier for both managers and employees to understand.

What Is the Bradford Factor?

The Bradford Factor is a formula used to measure sickness absence. It gives greater weight to frequent short-term absences than to one longer period of absence. The usual calculation is: S × S × D

S is the number of separate occasions of sickness absence and D is the total number of days absent during the period being measured.

For example, an employee who has one absence lasting 10 days would have a Bradford Factor score of 10. An employee who has five separate two-day absences has also been absent for 10 days in total, but their Bradford Factor score would be 250.

The formula therefore draws attention to frequent short-term absence rather than simply measuring the total amount of time somebody has been away from work.

Do Employers Have to Use the Bradford Factor?

No. There is no legal requirement to calculate Bradford Factor scores or to use a particular formula when managing sickness absence.

ACAS explains that there are no legal rules about how or when employers should review absence. Employers can decide what review points are appropriate for their organisation while taking account of their wider legal responsibilities. The Bradford Factor is therefore one option rather than a required approach.

What Are the Alternatives to the Bradford Factor?

One of the simplest alternatives is to set sickness absence trigger points based on:

• the total number of working days lost to sickness

• the number of separate occasions of sickness

• a combination of days and occasions

• absence levels within a particular rolling period

For example, an organisation might decide that an absence review will normally be triggered when an employee reaches 10 working days of sickness absence or five separate occasions of sickness within a rolling 12-month period, whichever happens first. Those figures are simply an example. There is no standard number of days or occasions that every employer should use.

The benefit of this type of system is that it can identify both employees who have accumulated a significant number of sickness days and those experiencing frequent shorter absences without requiring managers to calculate a separate score.

Can You Use Days and Number of Absences Instead of the Bradford Factor?

Yes. For many organisations, monitoring both the number of sickness days and the number of separate absences provides enough information to identify when attendance needs to be reviewed.

Looking only at total days can miss patterns of frequent short-term absence. An employee could have several one-day absences without accumulating a particularly high number of sickness days.

Looking only at occasions has its own limitations because it does not show how much working time has actually been lost. Using both can provide a clearer picture without introducing a mathematical scoring system.

What Is a Sickness Absence Trigger Point?

A sickness absence trigger point, sometimes called a review point, is a level of absence that prompts the employer to look at the employee's attendance. The important word is review.

Reaching a trigger should not automatically mean that the employee receives a warning or that formal action will follow. Instead, it gives the manager a clear point at which they should speak to the employee, understand what is behind the absence and decide whether anything further is needed.

That might include monitoring attendance, discussing support, making an Occupational Health referral or considering reasonable adjustments. In some cases, the review may result in no further action.

What Does ACAS Say About Sickness Absence Trigger Points?

ACAS recognises that employers may use trigger or review points to help manage absence. These can be based on the number of absences somebody has within a particular period or the length of their absence.

ACAS also recommends recording information such as how many absences an employee has had, how long each one lasted and the reasons for absence.

Importantly, ACAS advises employers to be flexible and sensitive to individual circumstances when using absence review points. That means the trigger can prompt the conversation without automatically determining what happens afterwards.

Should Sickness Triggers Use a Rolling 12-Month Period?

A rolling 12-month period means looking back at the employee's absence during the previous 12 months whenever their attendance is reviewed.

For example, if you were reviewing someone's attendance in September, you would look at their sickness absence since the previous September rather than only looking at absence since January. This avoids absence effectively resetting at the beginning of each calendar year.

There is no requirement to use a rolling 12-month period, but if you do, the sickness absence policy should explain how it works.

What Is a Reasonable Sickness Absence Trigger?

There is no single trigger point that is automatically reasonable for every employer. One organisation might use a certain number of days, another might focus more heavily on the number of occasions and another might use both.

The appropriate approach will depend on the organisation and how it manages attendance.

Whatever trigger you choose should have a clear purpose. It should help managers identify when attendance needs to be discussed rather than simply create a number that automatically results in action. Employees should also know what the trigger points are and what happens if they reach them.

Does Reaching a Sickness Trigger Mean the Employee Gets a Warning?

No. This is one of the most important things for managers to understand about sickness absence triggers.

Imagine two employees both reach the same trigger. One has had several unrelated minor illnesses. The other has recently been diagnosed with a long-term health condition and some of their absence is connected to that condition. The number may be identical, but the circumstances are very different.

A trigger tells the manager that attendance needs to be reviewed. The manager then needs to understand the reasons for the absence before deciding what happens next.

Depending on the circumstances, that could involve support, further monitoring, Occupational Health advice, reasonable adjustments or a more formal absence management process.

What Are the Advantages of Using Simple Absence Triggers?

The main advantage is clarity. Managers can see relatively easily when somebody has reached the organisation's review point, and employees can understand how their attendance is being monitored.

A system based on days and occasions can also be easier to explain than a Bradford Factor score. For example, saying that an employee has had five separate periods of sickness within the last 12 months immediately tells a manager something useful about their attendance pattern. A score of 250 means very little unless the manager understands how the Bradford Factor works.

Simple triggers can therefore achieve the same basic objective of prompting an attendance review without making the process unnecessarily complicated.

What Are the Disadvantages of the Bradford Factor?

The Bradford Factor deliberately gives much greater weight to frequent short-term absence. That can help identify patterns, but the score itself does not explain why the employee has been absent.

Several short absences can also produce a very high score relatively quickly because the number of occasions is multiplied by itself. The danger comes when managers start treating the score as the decision.

A Bradford Factor score might tell you that somebody's attendance warrants a conversation, but it cannot tell you whether they have a disability, whether their absence relates to pregnancy, whether reasonable adjustments are needed or whether there is another explanation that should be considered. Those questions still require management judgement.

Is a Simple Trigger System Better Than the Bradford Factor?

Not necessarily. Both are tools. The Bradford Factor may suit an organisation that specifically wants to give greater weight to repeated short-term absence.

Another employer may decide that monitoring total days and separate occasions gives managers all the information they need.

The better question is whether the system helps the organisation manage attendance fairly and consistently. If managers understand a straightforward trigger system and use it properly, there may be little benefit in adding a more complicated formula simply because other organisations use it.

What About Disability-Related Sickness Absence?

This is where applying any sickness trigger mechanically can cause problems. If an employee is disabled under the Equality Act 2010, some of their absence may be related to their disability.

Depending on the circumstances, the employer may need to consider reasonable adjustments to its normal absence management process.

That could include adjusting the employee's trigger point, disregarding some disability-related absence or recording particular absences separately. It does not mean every disability-related absence must automatically be ignored.

The employer needs to consider the employee's individual circumstances and what adjustments would be reasonable. This applies whether you use the Bradford Factor or a simpler trigger system.

What About Pregnancy-Related Sickness?

Employers should record pregnancy-related sickness separately so that it is not used to the employee's disadvantage when looking at their sickness absence record.

This is another reason managers should look behind an absence score or trigger before deciding what to do.

A system may automatically flag an employee as having reached a particular threshold, but the manager still needs to understand which absences have contributed to it.

What Should a Sickness Absence Policy Say About Trigger Points?

The policy should explain how sickness absence is monitored and when an employee's attendance will normally be reviewed. If you use days and occasions, explain both thresholds and the period over which they are measured.

If you use the Bradford Factor, employees and managers should understand how the score is calculated and what reaching particular levels actually means.

The policy should also allow individual circumstances to be considered rather than suggesting that every employee who reaches a particular number will automatically receive the same outcome. Managers then need to understand how to apply the policy in practice

Need HR Support?

If you're reviewing your sickness absence policy or struggling with repeated employee absence, BloomHR can help.

We provide practical HR support to small businesses, including sickness absence policies, absence review processes, Occupational Health referrals and advice on managing short and long-term absence fairly. Contact us for more information.