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Bradford Factor calculator
A way of weighting frequent short absences more heavily than one long one. Useful for spotting patterns, dangerous when used as an automatic trigger.
How it is worked out
Spells squared, times total days. Four absences totalling nine days scores 144; one absence of nine days scores 9. The squaring is the point: it makes the pattern of frequent short absences visible. There are no statutory bands. Whatever review points you use, reaching one should start a conversation, and that conversation should be recorded.
What the score is actually for
The Bradford Factor exists because a firm with a hundred staff cannot eyeball an absence register and see what is happening. It weights frequency far above duration, on the theory that unplanned short absences disrupt a shift more than one planned long one. Four separate days off scores far higher than one four-day spell.
That weighting is the point and also the danger. It is a way of deciding who to have a conversation with. It is not a way of deciding who to discipline.
Where firms get into trouble with it
The common failure is writing a trigger into the handbook, setting it at a number, and letting the number issue warnings by itself. Two problems follow. Absence connected to a disability, a pregnancy or a serious health condition will inflate a score for reasons that must be considered separately, and adjustments to the trigger are part of what a tribunal would expect to see considered. And a score alone tells you nothing about cause, so a manager acting on it has skipped the step that would have made the decision defensible.
Used properly it is a prompt: this person's pattern has changed, go and ask why. Used improperly it is an automated route to a claim.
Choosing a trigger point
There is no statutory figure. Common practice sits somewhere between 50 and 200 depending on the workforce, and whatever you choose should be written down, applied consistently, and reviewed against your own data rather than copied from a template. A trigger that fires on half your workforce is set too low and will be ignored, which is worse than not having one.
Common questions
What is a good Bradford Factor trigger point?
There is no statutory figure. Many employers set a first trigger somewhere between 50 and 200. What matters more is that the figure is written down, applied consistently, and capable of being adjusted where absence relates to a disability or health condition.
How is the Bradford Factor calculated?
Spells of absence squared, multiplied by the total number of days absent, usually over a rolling 52 weeks. Four separate absences totalling nine days scores 144, while one absence of nine days scores 9.
Can I dismiss someone based on their Bradford Factor score?
No. The score is a prompt to investigate, not evidence in itself. A dismissal needs a proper absence procedure, medical evidence where relevant, consideration of adjustments, and a fair process.
Should disability-related absence count towards the score?
It has to be considered separately. Discounting disability-related absence, or adjusting the trigger, is a common reasonable adjustment and failing to consider it is where claims arise.
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What do your review points actually trigger?
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