A Complete Guide for Practice Managers Under the Employment Rights Act 2025
Absence has always been something dental practices have had to manage carefully. But under the Employment Rights Act 2025, it is becoming more than a staffing issue — it is also becoming a compliance risk.
From April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is payable from day one, and eligibility has widened. That means absence needs to be recorded, handled and evidenced properly from the start — not pieced together later if questions come up.
In practical terms, the shift is simple: it is no longer enough to manage absence informally. You need to be able to show that it was handled fairly, consistently and in line with your process.
What is absence management in a dental practice?
Absence management is the way your practice records, monitors and responds to sickness and other time off, while keeping the practice running and staying compliant.
In most dental practices, this means:
- logging absence from the first day
- keeping clear and accessible records
- staying in touch during the absence where appropriate
- completing and recording return-to-work discussions
Under ERA 2025, those steps matter more because they are no longer just examples of good practice — they form part of the evidence that shows your process was properly followed.
Why absence management matters more under ERA 2025
The latest employment law changes place more weight on early entitlement, accurate records and employer accountability. For practice managers, that means absence processes need to be more consistent than they may have been in the past.
In a dental practice, that sits alongside other day-to-day pressures:
- keeping the rota covered
- maintaining safe staffing levels
- meeting CQC expectations around documentation
- being ready if an issue later turns into a dispute or inspection question
The real risk is not just that someone is off work. The risk is what your records — or lack of records — say about how the situation was handled.
What’s changed for dental practices
The most important absence-related change is day-one Statutory Sick Pay. SSP is now payable from the first day of absence rather than after a waiting period.
That has three immediate consequences for practices:
- more absences need to be tracked formally from day one
- payroll, HR and documentation processes need to line up straight away
- practices are likely to see more absences claimed, since the removal of the waiting period makes short-term sickness more straightforward to report — which makes strong absence management a higher priority, not just a compliance one
For many practices, this exposes a familiar gap: what happens in reality is not always matched by what can be clearly evidenced later.
The hidden risk in many dental practices
In many practices, absence still gets managed through a mix of spreadsheets, informal notes and verbal conversations. Operationally, that can feel efficient — until someone asks for evidence.
Problems usually appear when you need to show:
- that staff were treated fairly
- that the practice followed a consistent process
- that records are complete and inspection-ready
That is where informal ways of working can start to create real exposure. The work may have been done, but if it is not properly recorded, it becomes much harder to prove.
This is where absence management connects to the wider issue of the “invisible HR load” — the HR work that is happening in the background, but only becomes visible when something goes wrong.
Before and after: how absence management is changing
Before ERA 2025
- absence tracked manually
- return-to-work conversations left undocumented
- process varies depending on who is managing the situation
After ERA 2025
- absence logged consistently from day one
- communication recorded clearly
- an auditable process followed across the practice
The activities themselves are not dramatically different. What has changed is the expectation that they are applied consistently and can be evidenced if needed.
How to strengthen absence management in your practice
Most practices do not need a complete overhaul. They need more structure in the places where inconsistencies tend to creep in.
A practical starting point is to:
- record all absence immediately
- standardise how absence is logged across the practice
- document return-to-work discussions every time
- review whether your current process creates a reliable audit trail
Most practices only notice weak spots when they need to evidence a decision quickly. A proactive review helps you find those gaps before they become a problem. As absence volumes increase, manual tracking also becomes harder to sustain consistently — which is why some practices move towards systems that centralise records, link absence data with HR documentation and keep an audit trail automatically. The goal is not more admin. It is less reliance on memory, manual follow-up and records held in disconnected places.
Final thought: absence management is no longer a back-office task
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, absence management sits at the intersection of compliance, risk and day-to-day operations. In a busy dental practice, it is no longer something that can sit quietly in the background.
The practices that adapt best are not necessarily doing more. They are making their processes clearer, more consistent and easier to evidence when it matters.
Next step: understand your risk level
If you are not sure how robust your current absence process really is, take the 2-minute HR Gap Check. It gives you:
- an instant view of your current process gaps and where your practice is exposed
- a clear indication of where risks may sit
- practical next steps based on your results
For practical guidance on what the April 2026 changes mean for your dental practice, download our ERA2025 Action Checklist or speak to our team for more support.