Managing Long-term Sickness Webinar – Follow-up questions answered (Part 4 – UK)
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Here are a couple more of the questions – and our answers, following our recent webinar on Managing Long-term Sickness Absence.  

Today we address the following:

  • You mentioned a £500 sum that employers can claim to support employees back to work during or after illness – can you please provide more information about that?

  • Where is the line between “reasonable” and “not reasonable” when it comes to adjustments? We have a long-serving employee who is now unable to do his current job as an operative due to arthritis. We sought advice from OH who said a reasonable adjustment (it is accepted that they are disabled) would be to make them a manager, even though he has no management experience. Surely this would not constitute a reasonable adjustment?


You mentioned a £500 sum that employers can claim to support employees back to work during or after illness – can you please provide more information about that?

Expenditure by employers on medical treatment for employees is generally chargeable to income tax either as earnings or as a taxable benefit. In January 2015, the government introduced a tax exemption of up to £500 (per tax year, per employee) on medical treatments recommended to help employees return to work. To qualify for this exemption, the employee must have been absent from work for at least 28 consecutive days due to ill health or injury or have been assessed by a healthcare professional as not fit for work (or may not be) for at least that period. The exemption applies whether the employer arranges and pays for the treatment, pays for the treatment that the employee has arranged, or reimburses the employee directly. Further details can be found in HMRC’s Employment Income Manual.    

Where is the line between “reasonable” and “not reasonable” when it comes to adjustments? We have a long-serving employee who is now unable to do his current job as an operative due to arthritis. We sought advice from OH who said a reasonable adjustment (it is accepted that they are disabled) would be to make them a manager, even though he has no management experience. Surely this would not constitute a reasonable adjustment?

It seems very unlikely!

Clearly if an employee is unable because of their disability to return to their existing job (even with adjustments) then it is appropriate for the company to consider other adjustments and this may include offering them an alternative role, sometimes even at a higher grade. But this assumes the employee is capable of performing that role, even if that means they need a bit of training/support initially. This does not appear to be the situation here.

Helpfully there has been case law in which the courts have confirmed that it will not be a reasonable adjustment for an employer to appoint someone to a position where that person failed to meet the essential requirements of the job. See Wade v Sheffield Hallam University [2012], for example.

As discussed during the webinar, the company is not bound to comply with OH’s recommendations in any event – their guidance is persuasive but not determinative. If the company does not follow their advice then this should be documented, together with the reasons for not doing so. Be seen to consider what prior record of performance and experience you would normally require of a newly-promoted manager, and do not impose any greater hurdles on this employee – after all, most employees who become managers have little management experience before then. OH’s advice also assumes that you have a suitable management vacancy, and certainly does not require you to create one. Always be careful though not to dismiss suggestions out of hand – this would not appear to be the case here but remember that if an employee could potentially fill a vacant management role within a reasonable timescale and with some additional training and support, this should be something that is seen to be considered.

If you missed any of our previous posts on this series, they are available to read here:

 

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