Introduction

There is no statutory right for you to be granted time off work to attend a routine medical or dental appointment nor to be paid if such time off is given; however, we recognise that you will, from time to time, need to attend medical appointments.

You should endeavour to arrange medical appointments in your own time or, if this is not possible, at times that will cause us the minimum amount of absence from work or inconvenience.

However, we accept that arranging medical appointments outside working hours is not always possible. Our policy is to permit reasonable time off work for such appointments.

Provided that you give your line manager reasonable notice of the date and time of an appointment, time off with pay will normally be granted, although this is subject to the discretion of your line manager.

When time off for medical appointments becomes frequent or regular or starts to cause difficulties for your department, your line manager can require you to make up for the time off by working extra time on another occasion or grant any additional time off without pay.

You must obtain approval from your line manager in advance of any appointment. The line manager reserves the right to ask you to reschedule an appointment if its timing disrupts our business. Your line manager may also, at their discretion, request that you produce confirmation of the appointment.

Time off for medical or dental emergencies

Medical or dental emergencies requiring urgent, unforeseen medical or dental attention and cases where you are admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery will be treated as sickness absence by our sickness absence policy.