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Explainer

Sickness absence data: what employers will track.

The government is building a national picture of workplace health, and it starts with data most firms record patchily or not at all. Here is what employers will be expected to track, and a simple way for a small firm to do it.

Last updated: 13 July 2026. This is a live policy programme; we update this page as it develops.

Short answer

Under Keep Britain Working, the new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit will collect standardised data on three things: sickness absence, return-to-work outcomes and disability participation. Most employers record these inconsistently today. A small firm does not need a big system to get ahead; a light, regular record of who is off and why, whether people come back, and how the team is doing is enough to be ready and to manage better in the meantime.

The three things the national picture wants

The Keep Britain Working review is blunt about the problem: sickness absence is tracked inconsistently across the economy, and the success of return-to-work efforts is rarely measured. The new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit is designed to fix that by making three things measurable and comparable:

  • Sickness absence - how much, how often, and how it is changing, recorded consistently rather than in scattered notes and memories.
  • Return-to-work outcomes - whether people who fall out of work actually come back, and what helped.
  • Disability participation - how well the workplace includes and retains people with health conditions.
The government's own assessment is that sickness absence is tracked inconsistently and return-to-work success is rarely measured at all. That gap is the entire reason the WHIU exists.
Source: GOV.UK, Keep Britain Working review final report (Sir Charlie Mayfield), 2026.

What a small firm should actually track

You do not need an HR platform or an occupational-health contract. A simple, consistent record of a handful of things puts you ahead of most employers:

  • Absence, consistently. Who was off, for how long, and the broad reason, recorded the same way each time. Consistency matters more than sophistication.
  • Returns. Did the person come back, when, and was there a plan. This is the number almost nobody has, and the one the WHIU cares about most.
  • How the team is doing. A light, regular, non-clinical wellbeing signal on workload and coping, so you see pressure building before it becomes absence.
  • What you did. A dated note of the action you took. Data with no evidence of action is only half the story any standard will want.

A word on privacy

Health information is sensitive, and the national picture is being built on aggregated, not individual, data. A small firm should do the same: record what you need to manage well and to evidence action, keep it secure, and report on how a team is doing rather than exposing any one person. Good measurement never means surveillance.

Where to start

Tracking is only useful if it feeds a strategy you actually run. Our free 4-minute Strategy Audit tells you whether yours does, and names your biggest gap. No call, no card.

Take the free Strategy Audit

For the "how the team is doing" signal, our free non-clinical wellbeing pulse, the Intelligent Wellbeing Engine, captures it anonymously at team level, so you get the picture without exposing anyone. It is the measurement layer, not a separate purchase.

Read next

Stay-in-work and return-to-work plans · What is the WHIU?

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Quick questions

What people ask.

What data will employers have to report to the WHIU?

The Workplace Health Intelligence Unit is focused on sickness absence, return-to-work outcomes and disability participation. The exact reporting mechanics and any obligations are still being developed, and early activity centres on larger Vanguard employers.

Do small employers have to track sickness absence data now?

There is no new universal reporting duty on small employers yet. But recording absence and returns consistently is sensible management and gets you ahead of the direction of travel, since standardised workplace health data is clearly where the system is heading.

Is tracking wellbeing a privacy risk?

It should not be. Good practice, and the national approach, is to work from aggregated data. Report on how a team is doing rather than exposing individuals, keep records secure, and capture only what you need to manage well and evidence action.

What is the simplest way to capture how the team is doing?

A short, regular, non-clinical wellbeing pulse that reports at team level. It gives you an early signal on workload and coping without singling anyone out, and it is the raw material the standard and the WHIU are built on.

Get your workplace health data in order.

The free 4-minute Strategy Audit scores whether your wellbeing strategy genuinely runs and names your biggest gap. No call, no card.

Take the free Strategy Audit