Here at the Citrus, we know that there’ll be times when you can’t come to work – whether because you’re ill or something else unexpected has happened. We want to support you and help you come back to work as soon as possible. But we’ll also need to review and manage your absence, to minimise the impact on our business.

This policy sets out our approach to managing absence. There’s also a Short-term Sickness Absence Process which outlines the steps we’ll follow to deal with short-term absence. And if you’re off sick for a prolonged period of time, the steps we’ll take to manage this are set out in the Ongoing Sickness Absence Process.

The absence reporting procedure applies to all forms of unplanned absence – including sickness absence and also things like emergency leave and compassionate leave – but the rest of the Absence Policy, and the supporting processes, just relate to sickness absence.

Just so it’s clear, in some cases the Disciplinary Policy may apply rather than, or as well as, the Absence Policy, such as:

  • If you don’t follow the absence reporting procedure
  • If we have reasonable grounds to believe that your sickness absence isn’t genuine
  • If you give inaccurate or misleading information about your sickness absence

Crucial bits

Unaccepted Absences / Unauthorised Absences

It is accept that it is your own responsibility to get yourself to work on time and without delay. most of the below issues will not be accepted by the company and are you would be told to attend your shift.


Broken down vehicles/ Public transport strikes/issues

We understand it can be a nightmare if you have travel issues.  When it comes to your work shift we ask you to find an alternative. It can not be accept that you are unable to get to work because of vehicle issues or travel problems. You would be expected that you would try the following:


- Walk

- Ride a bike

- Hire a public scooter/bike

- Use a public transport (if strikes are in place look at an alternative like a bus)

- Ask for a lift from a co-worker on your site

- Ask for a family member  or friend to take you


It is your responsibility to get to your shift and the above are some ideas you can use. 


Medical appointments

Often we work out of hours, therefor saying you have a medical appointment at 7am in the morning can not be accepted. We plan your rotas 8 weeks in advance so please arrange medical appointments around your shift. We may also ask for medical letters as evidence 


Relationship / personal issues 

Although personal relationships can upset you we ask that you attend work as normal. This is a issue that should not affect your job.


Appointments arranged during your shift times. 

Please rearrange them.  As mentioned above you have a rota 8 weeks in advance. We will not accept this as a valid reason of absence


Alarm clock issues

it is your responsibility to set an alarm and get to work on time. If you use your mobile phone as an alarm you are expected to charge your phone before bed to ensure it wakes you up. This could be followed up with the disciplinary procedure if its a regular occurrence 


Weather Conditions

You would be expected to go to work regardless of weather conditions. The only exception to this is if we contact you not to go in. We base this on how many customers close and if our mobile team are able to drive safely. 


Home Deliveries 

Waiting for amazon or a new sofa is not a reason for you not to be in work our average work shift is 2-4 hours and therefor we ask that someone else waits in for your delivery until you get home and can swap with them.


Workman appointments

Similar to the above. Average work shift is 2-4 hours and therefor we ask that someone else waits in for your workman until you get home and can swap with them. The alternative is to contact your workman to schedule a appointment around your shift. 


Absence Reporting Procedure

If you can’t come to work for any reason, you need to let us know. You must call your manager or the Helpdesk. Some business areas need more notice than this for operational reasons, it is very difficult to cover employees so we always ask to go in and we will rearrange the next shift for you to have off.

Make sure you know who you need to call if you can’t come to work and have the phone numbers you need. We don’t accept texts, emails, messages on social media or messages from another person unless you really can’t call yourself – like if you’re in hospital. You must call 02393600003

If you’ve got more than one job at Citrus, you need to follow the absence reporting procedure for both roles. 

When you call in you’ll need to tell us:

  • Why you’re absent and how long you expect to be off work
  • Your phone number so your manager can contact you
  • Details of any urgent or outstanding work that needs picking up while you’re off

It’s really important that you follow the absence reporting procedure for every unplanned absence. If you don’t, this will be viewed as unauthorised absence which is a serious matter and could result in your pay being stopped and disciplinary action being taken against you, up to and including dismissal – see the Unauthorised Absence Policy for more information.

Keeping in contact

During the call you should agree with your manager how you’ll stay in touch during your absence. This should be daily in the first week, unless it wouldn’t be appropriate in the circumstances. But if your absence lasts for longer than this, you should agree with your manager when you need to call.

It’s important to stay in contact with the helpdesk in addition to providing Fit Notes and attending any absence review meetings. As a minimum, you should always call your manager the day before your Fit Note expires, to let them know whether or not you’ll be returning to work.

Keep us updated with any new information about your health and how you’re progressing towards recovery. And tell us if your doctor gives you any likely timescales for coming back to work. If you feel that the reasons for your absence are to do with your work, please talk to the ops team, or an alternative manager, about this as soon as possible and they’ll try to resolve things.

Also, just so you’re aware, while you’re absent from work your manager might call you from time to time if there’s anything they need to speak to you about, or just to keep in touch with you.

Sickness certification

You should self-certify your sickness up to and including seven calendar days using the Self-Certification Form. This is available on the internet, or ask your manager for a copy. You need to fill this in and give to your manager. But if you’re off sick for over seven days and you live in England, Scotland or Wales, you need to get a Fit Note from one of the following approved Healthcare Professionals - doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist in order to cover your absence from the eighth day onwards. If you want to keep the original Fit Note that’s okay – your manager will take a copy.

We may ask you to get a Fit Note before the eighth day of your absence – but we’ll only do this in exceptional circumstances.

Remember, any period of sickness absence which isn’t covered by self-certification or Fit Note is classed as unauthorised absence – see the Unauthorised Absence Policy. So, if you’re absent from work for any length of time, it’s important to make sure that the documents you give us cover the whole time, with no gaps in between them.

Sick pay

Details of your sick pay are in your contract of employment – talk to your manager if you need any further information.

If you qualify for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and Citrus Sick Pay (CSP) then CSP will be paid as the difference between SSP and your normal wage. More information about SSP is available at www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay.

We may stop paying CSP in certain circumstances, including the following. SSP may also be stopped if the rules around this payment haven’t been met. 

  • You don’t follow the Citrus Absence Policy, including the absence reporting procedure without good reason
  • You don’t provide a required Fit Note
  • You don’t attend a scheduled Occupational Health appointment, without good reason or without giving the required notice, until you attend a rescheduled appointment
  • You’re absent from work due to sickness pending any investigation, disciplinary or performance improvement meeting - see the Disciplinary Policy and Performance Improvement Policy for more information.
  • We have evidence that you’re behaving in a way that’s inconsistent with the reason for your absence or engaging in activities (including other work, paid or unpaid, or any sports or hobbies) that are likely to delay your recovery or make your condition worse. If you’re in any doubt about doing certain activities, get advice from your doctor.
  • If you’re undergoing voluntary cosmetic surgery. If so, we may agree to let you take holiday, so your pay isn’t affected. In some cases, cosmetic surgery can be necessary for medical reasons – so talk to your manager about your circumstances.

If we decide to pay you CSP for a period where you’d only got SSP before, this will be paid in the next available payroll, and we won’t make ad-hoc payments.

If a medical authority tells you that you mustn’t attend work after being in contact with a notifiable disease, make sure you tell your manager as soon as possible. This will be classed as paid leave and won’t count towards the calculation of absence triggers.

If you’re off sick because of a physical or psychological injury caused by a member of the public whilst in work, and we think the incident was serious enough for you to be absent, we’ll give you some paid leave and this won’t count towards the calculation of absence triggers.

Occupational health

If you’re off sick, we may want to refer you to Occupational Health to get more information about your condition. You don’t have to agree, but if you don’t we’ll manage your absence on the basis of the limited information we’ve got.

Once your appointment is booked, it’s important you attend. If you need to cancel or reschedule, you must call them and your manager, giving at least two clear weekdays’ notice (not including the date you call and the date of your appointment). So, if your appointment’s on a Thursday, you should tell them on the Monday if you can’t go, and if it’s booked for Wednesday, you should tell them the Friday before. You can find more information in the Occupational Health Guide.

Return to work meeting

Your manager will meet with you after every absence to talk about how you’re feeling and if there are any adjustments suggested on your Fit Note. They’ll record details of what you discuss in a Return to Work Discussion Form.

This meeting must take place on the day you return to work. If you work in a safety critical role, including roles that involve driving or operating machinery, then the return to work meeting must happen before you start work again and your manager may also carry out a Risk Assessment to make sure that you’re fit to return to work. If any changes need to be made to your work or working environment to support you to return to work, these will be recorded in a Work Adjustments Form.

In the meeting, your manager will talk to you about the reason for your absence and about any concerns you may have, and also about the impact of your absence and any next steps that might be taken. It’s important to tell your manager if you think there may be underlying reasons for your absence, or if you were absent for a work-related reason.

Absence triggers

At Citrus we have a system of absence triggers in place to help us manage short-term periods of absence. These triggers are: - Three periods of absence in a rolling 12 month period from the 1st day of absence (two if you’re within your probationary period – see the Probationary Period Policy) - 20 or more days/shifts of absence in a rolling 12-month period - Where there’s a pattern of absence – (such as the Tuesday after a bank holiday weekend or the day after a big social or sporting event)

If you reach one of these absence triggers, you’ll be invited to an absence review meeting to talk about your levels of absence. At the end of this meeting your manager may give you an absence warning – although we won’t do this for sickness absences that are pregnancy-related.

If you have a live absence warning and you’re absent again, you’ll be asked to attend an absence review meeting so your manager can discuss your absence levels and see whether things have improved since the warning was given. There’s more details about the process we’ll follow in the Short-term Sickness Absence Process.

Things to think about

Disability-related absence

If you think you have a disability, talk to your manager about it and discuss any adjustments you need. There’s more information in the Guide to Reasonable Adjustments.

If you’re off sick due to a disability-related illness, your manager will try to support you to return to work. They might refer you to Occupational Health to find out more about your condition, how it may affect you at work and whether there are any adjustments we could make to help.

These absences might count towards the absence triggers in some circumstances. But it might be a reasonable adjustment to agree a revised absence trigger with you for absences related to a disability or to not include them when calculating absences triggers. If you have any questions or concerns about disability-related absence, speak to your manager. 

Phased return

If you’re coming back to work after an extended absence, you might need a phased return. This means you’ll return to work gradually, helping you get back up to speed and to check that any adjustments we’ve made are working.

Phased returns can include returning on reduced hours or doing amended duties. They usually last for 4-6 weeks but can be for up to 12 weeks in some circumstances. Any phased return will be based on the advice from Occupational Health or your GP.

Just so you know, if you’re working reduced hours during a phased return, you’ll normally get paid for the actual hours you work. Talk to your manager about options such as using holidays or any remaining sick pay for the hours that you’re not working. 

Confidentiality and medical information

If you’re off sick, we’ll keep the reason for this as confidential as possible. But there may be times when your manager needs to discuss your medical condition with people other than HR, and they’ll agree this with you before sharing your information.

Third party accidents

If your absence is caused by an accident or act of negligence by a third party, you must tell your manager. If you get compensation for loss of earnings, you’ll need to refund Citrus the equivalent amount for sick pay you’ve been paid. If the amount is repaid in full, the absence won’t be included when calculating your remaining sick pay, but it may be included when calculating absence triggers.

If you need further support

If you have any questions about how you need to report your absence or about Citrus; approach to managing absence, please speak to your manager.


Attached is the full Sickness and absence policy