Absence Management Software

A Complete Guide for UK Businesses

Did you know? Employees in the UK took an average of 9.4 sick days in the past 12 months.

Effective management of sickness absence, annual leave, parental leave and other leave types is essential for any business to run smoothly.

Using absence management software, like Leave Dates, you can centralise and automate your requests, approvals, reporting and more, all in one place. Never rely on clunky spreadsheets, emails, or forms again.

Get real time visibility of who is off and when.

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What is absence management software?

Absence management software is a vital tool for businesses that help monitor, record and manage all types of employee absence. This can include anything from annual leave to unplanned leave such as sickness.

Common absence types that are tracked include:

Annual leave
Sick leave
Public holidays
Parental leave
Unpaid leave
Time off in Lieu (TOIL)
Custom leave types like birthdays, wellbeing days or volunteering days

Rather than manually tracking absences, the software allows employees to submit requests online from desktop or mobile devices, and managers can approve them instantly. The software will automatically update leave balances to the correct leave category.

The result: more visibility, no scheduling conflicts, a dramatic reduction in admin and better compliance.

Why absence management matters for growing teams

Manual absence management can work for very small teams, but it’s never long before spreadsheets become unmanageable and unreliable.

Common problems with manual absence management include:

Holiday booking conflicts
Lost and delayed approval emails
Miscalculated and incorrect leave balances
Limited visibility across team
Increased admin burden on HR and managers

Staffing levels, project planning and employee morale can be significantly impacted by these issues. Using an absence management system will ensure that everyone’s leave is tracked accurately and management gains the insight they need for effective business planning.

Absence management and UK employment law

UK businesses are legally required to accurately track and manage employee absences to ensure compliance with local laws, such as the Working Time Regulations 1998, Employment Rights Bill 2024 and more. Using a reliable absence management system will help businesses meet these obligations and keep staff records organised, secure and accessible.

🗂️ General record-keeping obligations

Employers have an obligation to maintain all absence records and relevant documents, such as fit notes, accurately and comply with regulations. Leave Dates lets you store your team’s absence records, documents, and communications in one convenient place.

🌴 Statutory annual leave

Most people employed in the UK are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year.

Full-time workers will usually have at least 28 days off, including bank holidays; part-time employees receive the pro-rata equivalent.

🔁 Annual leave carry over

Some workplaces may offer unused leave carry over to the following year. This can happen if an employee is unable to take leave due to sickness, or perhaps the projects they worked on required more time during the previous leave year.

🤒 Statutory sick pay (SSP)

When an employee is on sick leave, their records must be kept accurate to ensure they receive their leave and SSP entitlements and to maintain compliance records correctly.

⚠️ Emergency leave

Also known as Time off for Dependants, employees in the UK have the right to take reasonable unpaid leave to attend to emergencies involving dependants. This can include childcare, medical emergencies, serious illness or bereavement.

⚖️ Public duty leave

The most common reason for taking public duty leave is being called for jury duty. These instances can be rare, so an absence management system makes it easy to avoid overlooking them.

👪 Parental leave

There are several types of leave designed to help new parents:

Maternity leave
Paternity leave
Adoption leave
Shared parental leave
Unpaid parental leave

Each type of parental leave had different allowances and requirements, using an absence management system is highly beneficial for ensuring people can take the leave they're entitled to.

How does absence management software work?

Leave request is created on web or mobile app

Employees can request time off easily via the web or mobile app, anytime and anywhere. Requests are simple to fill out, include all necessary details, attach supporting documents and are automatically logged in the system pending approval.

Managers are notified instantly for approval

Managers are notified as soon as a request is submitted. They can approve or reject leave based on company policies and team availability, reducing delays and ensuring fair, consistent decision-making.

Automatically sync with calendars and business tools

Approved leave updates calendars, dashboards, and any enabled integrations in real time. Keeping everyone informed, from team members to managers, without manual updates or extra emails.

Generate instant reports and insights

Get instant visibility into absence and team availability trends in your business. HR and managers can monitor patterns, plan staffing, and make data-driven decisions to improve workforce wellbeing and productivity.

Using Spreadsheets vs Absence Management Software

Feature	Spreadsheets / Manual	Absence Management Software
Leave requests	❌ Manual requests via email, chat, or paper; easy to lose	✅ Submit in-app anytime; auto-logged and routed for approval
Leave balances	❌ Calculated manually per employee and leave type; error-prone	✅ Updated automatically in real time; accurate for every employee
Visibility	❌ Limited to file access; teams often unaware of who’s off	✅ Shared calendars and dashboards show absences at a glance
Absence reporting	❌ Complicated, slow, and often inaccurate	✅ Instant, accurate reports and insights for HR and managers
Compliance tracking	❌ High risk; difficult to enforce policies consistently	✅ Built-in checks and audit trails ensure policy and legal compliance
Notifications & approvals	❌ Manual follow-ups; delays common	✅ Automatic notifications and real time approvals reduce delays and errors
Integrations with calendars & tools	❌ Nearly impossible; requires manual updates	✅ Connects to calendars, payroll, HR systems, and Slack for seamless workflows
Data insights & trends	❌ Patterns hidden in raw data; analysis is slow	✅ Spot trends instantly and plan staffing based on real time insights
Privacy & security	❌ Files can be lost or shared incorrectly	✅ Role-based access, audit trails, and secure cloud storage protect sensitive data

How to choose the right absence management software

It's easy to use

Employees must be able to submit and approve leave requests without the need for training. The right system is intuitive straight out of the box.

Offers flexible leave policies

Creating custom leave types should always be a basic feature, available on all pricing plans. This gives businesses of all sizes the opportunity to create more flexible policies from day one.

Gives your team visibility

Shared calendars, or wall charts, are an important tool that helps teams avoid conflicts and plan their resources. Your absence management system should be available 24/7, on desktop or mobile.

Has reliable integrations

Ensure your system syncs with Google or Outlook calendars, supports Slack notifications and Zapier, and allows you to create custom APIs for payroll and HR systems.

Generates accurate reports

Your absence management software should generate on-demand reports to help spot trends and generate compliance reports.

Caters for your team size and scalability

Many systems are designed for and priced for large teams, but there are great options for small businesses that can grow with you with no contract or long-term commitment.

Offers a free trial and pricing transparency

Many absence management platforms hide their pricing behind a demo request or sales call.

Pricing and packages should always be fully transparent, and give you the ability to try it for free with no commitment.

Leave Dates offers a 30-day free trial with access to every feature, no lock-in contract, no credit card required.

LD Persona woman thumbs down Distractions

Avoid common absence management mistakes

Relying solely on spreadsheets and manual processes is a critical admin error waiting to happen, as is having unclear, undocumented policies and an inaccessible system for each team member.

Having a system that doesn’t provide accurate reporting data can lead to compliance issues and, in some cases, legal issues also.

Absence management, solved - with Leave Dates ⭐

Leave Dates is the best absence management system for modern businesses, it makes the process of tracking employee leave simple, transparent and compliant with UK regulations. Helping you plan your team better, cut down on excess admin, and ensure everyone understands their leave entitlements.

Try Leave Dates free for 30-days, no credit card required.

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“Leave Dates is so user friendly, and has mobile app for staff too.”

“Very good, happy customer. It was easy to implement using the guide.”

Meet the features that transform your absence admin

Shared wall charts

See who’s off at a glance and avoid clashes. The Leave Dates wall chart is clear and colour-coded, so you don't miss a thing.

Automatic allowance calculations

Pro-rata leave, carry-over, TOIL and entitlements handled for you with consistency.

Integrations and workflow automation

Google & Outlook syncing for personal and team calendars.Slack notifications and automated approvals.

TOIL Management

Reward extra hours and effort with overtime requests that convert to time off in lieu.

Convenient mobile app

Request, approve and manage leave on the go, with Leave Dates on iOS and Android.

Tracks all leave types

Build your own policies for holidays, sickness, TOIL, and other custom leave types.

Reporting and insights

Leave Dates monitors trends, manages compliance, and plans resources.

Bank holidays ready-to-import

Celebrate with your multinational teams. Import bank holidays for +200 countries and regions around the world.

Trusted by businesses across the UK - and around the world

Thousands of companies rely on Leave Dates to simplify their absence management, reduce admin and keep teams informed.

Leave Dates is easy to use, reliable and affordable for all teams.

Rated 4.8 ⭐ by 300+ Capterra users.

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This is an amazing product.
I like the ease of use, I am able to do exactly what I want with no hassle.

Jacob G. Account Manager

Saves a lot of time and paperwork.
Very easy to use, easy to set up and easy for people to request their holidays. Simple for managers to use. Saves a lot of time and paperwork.

Steve R. Operations Director

Clarity for every absence.

Always know who's off and when. Say goodbye to spreadsheets, manual calculations and guesswork. Try every feature on Leave Dates for free.

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Frequently asked questions

Leave Dates is available to try for free for 30 days, with access to all features and no credit card is required to get started.

After the trial, pricing plans start from £0.75 per person, per month, with no minimum contract.

Leave management often refers to planned leave, such as annual leave, parental leave, long-service leave, etc.

Absence management covers both planned and unplanned absence, like annual leave, sickness tracking, compassionate leave, TOIL, sabbaticals, employee wellbeing days, study leave and more.

Leave Dates is built especially for UK businesses to manage their compliance with the Working Time Regulations 1998 and handle all statutory leave entitlements, pro-rata calculations for part-time employees, offer carry over, and manage bank holiday entitlements.

Most teams can complete their company setup in under 30 minutes using our Complete Guide to Setting Up Leave Dates, including configuring your company, onboarding employees.

Leave Dates offers an intuitive and user-friendly desktop and mobile app, AI chat support and a knowledge base with 24/7 access. We also have a UK and EU-based customer support team that offers a complimentary 30-minute setup session.

Leave Dates is highly scalable; teams of 2-3 employees and teams of 1000+ employees use it successfully in the long term. Many customers get started on their second or third hire, only to find that spreadsheets become extremely challenging to maintain and update accurately.

Large teams prefer to use Leave Dates alongside their HR and payroll software as it gives them more flexibility and options for absence management. These customers use our integration features for seamless syncing.

Many businesses find they need to set up their absence management software after their second or third hire. At this point, it becomes really difficult to maintain a spreadsheet or other manual system.