The Bradford Factor report in Sage HR is available to help you manage and analyse your employees' absences.
What is the Bradford Factor?
The Bradford Factor is a way to track unplanned absences like sickness by giving repeated short absences more impact.
📎NOTE: It's also known as the Bradford Formula, the Bradford Score, and the Bradford Index.
The Bradford Factor measures the impact of sick leave. It uses sick days from the last 52 weeks. The score counts only days within this period. You can check the result against the employee’s absence record.
Bradford factor calculation
The calculation of the Bradford Factor is S² x D = B
S is the total number of separate absences by an individual
D is the total number of days of absence of that individual
B is the Bradford Factor score
How to view the Bradford Factor report
On the main menu, click Reports.
Click Time off, then click Bradford factor.
Click Filter, then select what time off policies you want to see on this report. You won't see any data until you select at least one policy.
Click Save.
The report shows how many Occasions the employee has been off, the total number of days, and their Bradford factor score. You also see a bar chart as a visual.
📌TIP: Click Export to download the report to Excel.
How your time off policy settings affect your Bradford Factor report figures
The Bradford Factor counts only the days an employee is meant to work. It includes weekends and public holidays only when the employee normally works on those days and is absent.
This means the Count weekends as workdays and Count public holidays as workdays settings in your time off policies affect the Bradford Factor results.
If a policy counts weekends as workdays, the report includes those weekend days. The same applies when the policy counts public holidays as workdays.
Examples and scenarios
Below is an example absence, followed by scenarios showing how the Bradford Factor changes based on your policy settings.
Example absence
One time off request covering 7 days in a row, from Monday to Sunday
Saturday and Sunday are weekend days
Monday is a public holiday
Scenario 1
Policy settings
Count weekends as workdays: Off
Count public holidays as workdays: Off
Bradford Factor results
Occasions: 1
Total days: 4
Bradford Factor score: 4
📎NOTE: The public holiday and the two weekend days don’t count, so the report excludes 3 days.
Scenario 2
Policy settings
Count weekends as workdays: On
Count public holidays as workdays: On
Bradford Factor results
Occasions: 1
Total days: 7
Bradford Factor score: 7
📎NOTE: The report includes the full week.
Scenario 3
Policy settings
Count weekends as workdays: Off
Count public holidays as workdays: On
Bradford Factor results
Occasions: 1
Total days: 5
Bradford Factor score: 5
📎NOTE: Weekend days don’t count, so the report excludes two days.
Scenario 4
Policy settings
Count weekends as workdays: On
Count public holidays as workdays: Off
Bradford Factor results
Occasions: 1
Total days: 6
Bradford Factor score: 6
📎NOTE: The public holiday doesn’t count, so the report excludes one day.
If an employee goes home sick part way through the day and is then off sick the following day, does this count as one sickness occasion?
No. In Sage HR, you can't record a partial-day sickness absence and an adjoining full-day sickness absence as a single sickness occasion.
You must create the partial-day sickness absence and the full-day sickness absence as separate absence entries. As a result, the Bradford Factor report counts them as separate occasions.
📎NOTE: For UK employers, HMRC guidance states that Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) applies only to full days or shifts of sickness absence. You can review the guidance on the UK Government website: Employer sick pay entitlement.