Absence Due to Illness
The procedures to be followed by teachers and teachers? entitlement during illness derive from a number of sources ? DENI regulations, DHSS legislation and local practice within individual schools. This leaflet provides a general guidance only for INTO representatives and members. Further information and advice can be obtained from Northern Office.
Notification of Absence
(Three consecutive calendar days or less) ? No written notification required. The principal should be kept informed in accordance with local arrangements. A principal absent in these circumstances should inform the school and the Chairperson of the Board of Governors.
(From four to seven calendar days) ? Obtain form CCU67 (self certificate) from school, complete and return. It is sufficient to describe the nature of the illness in general terms, e.g., flu, back pain etc.
(In excess of seven calendar days) ? Obtain medical certificate, complete and send to the Department of Education at Teachers? Salaries Branch in Derry. Ensure teachers? reference number and name and address of school are included (teachers whose salaries are not issued by the Department of Education should send completed medical certificates to their employing authority). In all cases the teacher shall keep the school informed in accordance with local arrangements.
| ? | Calendar days for the purpose of notification include Saturday and Sunday |
| ? | Where a teacher?s short term absences due to illness, i.e. absences of seven or less consecutive calendar days, exceed a total of 20 working days in any year ended 31st March, a doctor?s Medical Certificate must be supplied to the Department of Education |
| ? | Failure or delay in following any of these procedures could result in loss of salary and/or benefit. Members should ensure that all claims to state benefits, including Dependent?s Benefit for spouse and children, are made without delay. |
Payment
1. Salary during absence
The scheme applies to permanent teachers, temporary teachers who are paid as though they are employed in a permanent capacity, and part-time teachers appointed for a period of twelve months or more and paid on a pro-rata basis.
A teacher absent owing to illness shall be entitled to receive salary in any period of one year, commencing on 1st April and ending on 31st March of the following year, in accordance with the following scale:
|
Service |
Full Salary Rate |
Half Salary Rate |
| During 1st year | 25 working days | 50 working days (after four months? service) |
| During 2nd year | 50 working days | 50 working days |
| During 3rd year | 75 working days |
75 working days |
| During 4th and successive years | 100 working days | 100 working days |
(NB: Optional closing and non-pupil contact days are counted as working days)
? A teacher who is appointed from a date other than 1st April shall be deemed for the purposes of sick leave to have commenced on 1st April, but must complete four months actual full-time service before becoming entitled to sick leave on half-salary.
? A teacher, who is absent due to illness on 31st March and who continues to be absent after that date, will have that period treated as being part of the previous year?s entitlement of sick leave. The entitlement of sick leave in respect of the current year will commence on the date on which the teacher resumes duty.
? A teacher who is ill prior to school vacation and continues to be ill during the holiday period, shall be paid at the rate applicable on the last working day before the vacation and the vacation period is not counted against the teacher?s entitlement to paid sick leave. However, if the teacher has exhausted entitlement to sick leave at either full or half-salary rate, there shall be no entitlement to salary. Absences due to illness on non-working days, other than vacations, are treated similarly.
? A teacher who has been ill immediately preceding a vacation period, and has ceased to be entitled to salary at the full rate or half-rate, and who recovers from illness during the vacation period, shall be regarded as having returned to duty on the days/he is certified medically fit to do so by means of a medical certificate obtained for that purpose, and salary at the full rate shall be paid to him/her from that date provided s/he actually resumes duty on the first day after the said vacation period.
? Deductions are made from salary paid during sick leave in respect of amounts receivable by way of social security Incapacity Benefit. The amounts deducted are:
| - | The total amount receivable where salary is being paid at the full rate. |
| - | Where salary is being paid at half-rate, the amount deducted is the sum by which the combined salary and state benefits receivable exceed the teacher?s full salary rate. |
2. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Most teachers in employment are entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), during the first 28 weeks of illness in a period of three years. Payment of SSP replaces entitlement to social security Incapacity Benefit and SSP is liable to deductions in respect of Income Tax and National Insurance contributions.
Members should note that certain important groups of teachers are entitled to SSP during absence due to illness, e.g.:
| - | part-time hourly-paid teachers who are not otherwise entitled to salary during absence, provided they are earning sufficient to pay a National Insurance contribution. |
| - | married female teachers who are paying the lower rate of N.I. contributions and do not qualify for state Incapacity Benefit. |
It is important that all teachers should follow the Notification procedures.
For the administration and payment of SSP, the Department of Education acts on behalf of employers of teachers in schools and institutions of further Education who are paid salary by the Department. Teachers not paid by the Department are paid SSP by their employing authority.
When SSP is determined and paid by the Department of Education there will be no adjustment to salary amounts in respect of periods where SSP is due. For record and information purposes, the amount of SSP is shown on the teacher?s payable order or pay advice slip.
The forms used in the administration of SSP are:
BF220
Issue by the Department of Health and Social Services to teachers who have recently claimed, or received, state benefits, e.g. Incapacity Benefit. The form will indicate that the teacher is excluded from receiving SSP and the date on which the exclusion will cease. This form should be forwarded to the Department of Education when the teacher resumes employment.
SSP1
Issued by the Department of Education is a teacher who is absent due to illness and is not entitled to SSP.
3. Social Security Benefits
Incapacity Benefits: Payable to teachers absent through illness who satisfy the national insurance contributions conditions and are not entitled to, or have exhausted entitlement to, Statutory Sick Pay. Ensure that claim forms are submitted promptly and bear your national insurance number and teacher?s reference number. Do not forget to claim for dependents, e.g. spouse, children.
Industrial Injury: where a teacher is absent from duty to an accident at work or industrial disease, the procedures to be followed are the same as to absences due to illness. In addition, the teacher should apply to the Department of health and Social Services to have the injury/disease declared as an ?industrial injury/disease?. Forms B1 100 and B1 103 are obtainable from any social Security office. (For further information contact your local Social Security Office).
Important: INTO members injured at work, or contracting diseases at work, should also notify Northern Office in writing.
Other Benefits: In cases of prolonged and/or severe illness/disablement, there may be entitlement to other State benefits such as Special Disablement Allowance (SDA), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Invalid Care Allowance (ICA). IN addition, persons whose income falls below certain levels may be entitled to income support. Details of these and other State Benefits are given in the booklet ?Which Benefit? (FB2), which can be obtained on request, free of charge, from any Social Security Office.