Absence cost calculator: the defensible number.
What is sickness absence actually costing you? Four inputs, an honest total, every step shown — and no invented multipliers dressed up as insight.
The defensible number, with the working shown
£5,415.52direct cost per year — £541.55 per employee, exactly the ONS UK average of 4.4 days
The working
- Day rate = £32,000 ÷ 260 working days = £123.08
- Total absence days = 4.4 × 10 employees = 44 days
- Direct salary cost = £123.08 × 44 days = £5,415.52
- Total = £5,415.52 (£541.55 per employee)
What the total cannot see
- If people are paid in full while off sick, the day-rate figure above already contains their sick pay — do not add SSP on top. SSP matters where pay stops; the SSP calculator covers that arithmetic.
- An average hides the pattern: most teams' absence concentrates in a few people and a few Mondays. The Bradford Factor calculator scores that pattern.
- This is the defensible direct cost, not a 'true cost' estimate — lost output, missed deadlines and management time are real but unknowable from four inputs, so this calculator refuses to invent them.
Rules basis: direct-cost arithmetic only — day rate × absence days × employees, plus the cover cost you enter. No unstated multipliers. The comparison line uses the ONS UK average of 4.4 sickness days per worker per year. Reviewed 28 July 2026 · next review due by 28 July 2027 · Sources: ONS sickness absence · Acas absence guidance
The contextA cost total never manages absence on its own. Acas's absence guidance is the authority on the supportive process that actually brings the number down. ↗How do you calculate the cost of sickness absence?
Start with the day rate: annual salary divided by contracted working days. Multiply by the sickness days taken and the number of people, and you have the direct salary cost of absence — the number you can defend in a budget conversation. Add the cover you actually pay for (agency or overtime) and nothing else. The ONS average of 4.4 sickness days per UK worker per year is the useful benchmark for whether your rate is ordinary or an outlier.
Most absence-cost calculators inflate that figure with unstated productivity and morale multipliers, because a bigger scary number generates more leads. This one refuses: lost output and management time are real, but they cannot be computed from four inputs, and a number you cannot defend is worse than a smaller one you can. If the pattern behind the total is the real worry, the Bradford Factor calculator scores exactly that.
What matters
Start with the rule
Start with the day rate: annual salary divided by contracted working days. Multiply by the sickness days taken and the number of people, and you have the direct salary cost of absence — the number you can defend in a budget conversation. Add the cover you actually pay for (agency or overtime) and nothing else. The ONS average of 4.4 sickness days per UK worker per year is the useful benchmark for whether your rate is ordinary or an outlier.
Write down the decision
Keep the policy, dates, calculation inputs and decision together so another person can understand what happened.
Check the current source
The calculator above computes the direct, defensible cost. It deliberately does not estimate productivity loss, morale effects or management time — real costs that four inputs cannot honestly compute.
A practical checklist
For a small team, a short repeatable process beats an impressive policy nobody follows.
- Use contracted working days, not calendar days, for the day rate
- Count sickness days only — holiday belongs to a different calculation
- Add cover costs only where you actually paid them
- Compare the per-person rate with the ONS average before reacting
- Score the pattern with the Bradford Factor before drawing conclusions
- Take the supportive-process route (Acas) to actually reduce the number
Where software helps — and where it does not
HollyHR can keep the relevant people record, dates, documents, leave and working pattern in one place. It cannot decide a legal, medical or employee-relations question for you.
The calculator above computes the direct, defensible cost. It deliberately does not estimate productivity loss, morale effects or management time — real costs that four inputs cannot honestly compute.
Check the source, not just our summary
Rules and product pages change. These are the first-party references behind this page.
Questions people ask
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary for UK small teams. Check the linked official guidance and take qualified advice for a specific or disputed case.
Why keep the source with the calculation?
Rates and rules change. Recording the inputs, date and source makes the answer reviewable instead of becoming an unexplained number in a spreadsheet.
Can HollyHR track this?
HollyHR can hold the underlying employee, working-pattern, leave and document records. It does not present itself as a legal-advice engine.
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Keep reading: Bradford Factor calculator · Sickness absence in HollyHR