Attendance, unauthorised absence and reduced pay

Separate two different tests

Unauthorised absence exceeding 10 consecutive working days is reportable no later than 10 working days after the tenth day. Unpaid or reduced-pay absence has a separate four-week framework, with exceptions and a different assessment period for Scale-up sponsorship.

• Record expected working days, actual absence, permission, reason and pay treatment.
• Investigate missed contact promptly and document efforts to establish the facts.
• Escalate cumulative reduced-pay absence before the relevant limit is reached.

Protect the exception review

Part 2 recognises permissible absence reasons, including specified statutory leave and sick leave; reporting can still be required. Compelling-reason cases require UKVI consideration.

• Record the applicable exception and approval rather than using a generic absence label.
• Check both employment-law treatment and sponsorship implications.
• Keep approved leave, payroll changes and any SMS report linked.

Suggested absence chronology

Start with the person's expected working pattern and record what happened on each relevant day. Separate authorised leave, unexplained absence, non-working days and changes to pay. Preserve the date an explanation was received and the decision made about it. A calendar total drawn from a generic five-day week can obscure the actual pattern and the question needing review.

Join the manager's contact record to HR's leave decision and payroll's treatment. Give the sponsor reviewer enough context to consider the applicable provision, including cumulative events and any exception being relied upon.

• Record contact attempts factually and route welfare concerns appropriately.
• Check whether an approved leave label matches the evidence and pay treatment.
• Keep the decision, any report and the next review event connected.

Suggested monthly reconciliation

Compare attendance exceptions with payroll changes for a selected period. Look for unpaid days recorded in one system but absent from the other, retrospective approvals and episodes split across teams. The purpose is to produce an accurate chronology before the sponsor decision, not to force every case into one absence category.

Use restricted access for sensitive explanations and keep only the necessary case reference in a general action log. Managers need to know how and when to escalate; they do not all need access to detailed medical or personal information. Record who owns the final review and who provides cover.

Fictional practice scenario

A fictional care provider has an employee working a three-day pattern. Its spreadsheet counts all weekdays as missed work and payroll separately records a short period of reduced pay. The review team rebuilds the chronology from the rota, leave record and payroll explanation.

It then identifies the distinct questions requiring assessment under current guidance. The example does not calculate a legal deadline or decide whether an exception applies; it demonstrates the importance of reliable inputs.