Hot weather questions answered, and one thing many employers are still getting wrong.
- HRNews
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
What is it?
Every summer the same three questions land. Childcare has fallen through, someone cannot get in because the trains have stopped, and someone is off with bad sunburn.
Childcare. Time off for dependants covers an unexpected emergency, which includes a nursery closing at short notice. It is a reasonable amount of time and it is unpaid unless the contract says otherwise. It is not sickness absence. Homeworking, annual leave or banked time off in lieu are usually worth offering first.
Travel disruption. Where the workplace is open and someone cannot get in, there is no automatic right to be paid unless the contract provides for it. In practice, adjusting start and finish times or agreeing temporary homeworking lands far better than treating it as a lateness matter, and the absence is not the employee's doing.
Sickness. This is the one where older guidance is now out of date. From 6 April 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the three waiting days were removed and statutory sick pay is payable from the first qualifying day of absence. The lower earnings limit for eligibility was removed at the same time, so staff no longer need to hit a minimum weekly earnings figure to qualify. Lower earners receive the standard weekly rate or a set percentage of their normal weekly earnings, whichever is the lower. That changes the sunburn question completely. A day or two off used to fall short of triggering statutory sick pay. It no longer does.
The rest still applies. The employee must tell you they are sick within your deadline or within seven days, and a fit note is needed once absence passes seven calendar days. Contractual sick pay is governed by your own scheme, which may exclude certain absences.
What does it mean for you?
Read your sickness policy this week. Any wording about the first three days being unpaid, or about a minimum weekly earnings threshold, is now wrong and will mislead your managers. Check payroll is paying from day one.
Budget for it. Short absences now cost more, and that bites hardest where you employ part time, casual or lower paid staff.
How Lansbury HR can help.
We can update your sickness policy and absence procedure, brief your payroll team on what changed in April, and give managers a straightforward hot weather steer so they are not making it up on the day.
Get in touch with the team at Lansbury HR.
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