Time off for medical appointments

There is no general legal right to time off work for a medical appointment, and Acas says the time off might be unpaid. What you get depends on your contract and your employer’s policy. The exceptions are antenatal appointments, which carry a paid right from your first day, and disabled employees, whose employer must make reasonable adjustments. Check your own employer’s policy first, because it may give you more than the legal minimum.

What the law does not give you

Acas states plainly that there is no legal right to time off for a medical appointment, and none if an operation is purely elective or cosmetic. If an operation is medically required, the usual rules for sickness absence and pay apply, which means Statutory Sick Pay or your occupational sick pay scheme. NHS sick pay covers the NHS rules.

Acas says most employers will allow time off if you cannot rearrange the appointment, and that employers should be flexible where they can. That is good practice and not a duty, so the answer can differ between two managers in the same organisation.

What to check and what to try

Start with your contract, staff handbook and any absence or special leave policy. If these say nothing, Acas suggests speaking to your employer, who may agree something as a one-off. Options it lists are using holiday, using your breaks, making up the time later, or rearranging the appointment to fall outside work hours.

Councils on the Green Book have some written support. The Green Book says necessary paid time off should be given for cancer screening and recommends reasonable time off for fertility treatment, and Green Book special leave covers these. Other public sector employers have their own policies, and you should ask HR rather than assume.

Proof of an appointment

Acas says there is no legal requirement for you to give your employer proof of a medical appointment. An employer that suspects dishonesty should raise its concerns with you and, if it wants to go further, follow a fair investigation process. Your own policy may still ask for a letter or card. A fit note is a different document, for time off through sickness.

Antenatal appointments

Employees have the right to reasonable time off for antenatal appointments, on full pay, from their first day in the job. Reasonable time covers the appointment or class and the travel to and from it. The law sets no fixed limit. Acas says someone expecting a first baby usually needs up to 10 appointments, or around 7 if they have had a baby before.

Agency workers get the right after a 12-week qualifying period. For casual and zero-hours workers there is no legal requirement, though Acas calls paid time off good practice. An employer can ask for an appointment card or other evidence, but only from the second appointment onward.

A partner may have a right to time off for 2 antenatal appointments. It is usually unpaid and capped at 6.5 hours per appointment. Pregnancy rights at work has the wider picture.

Disability and long-term conditions

If you are disabled, Acas says your employer must make reasonable adjustments. Disability-related absence can include going to medical and hospital appointments, having treatment or therapy, and recovering from treatment, and Acas says an absence policy should cover what happens when someone needs this time.

Where your employer uses trigger points, which start an absence review at a set level of absence, Acas lists adjustments such as not counting disability-related absence towards the triggers, raising the number needed to start a review, or recording disability-related absence separately. They are decided case by case. The employer should talk with you and could get medical advice, such as an occupational health report, and weigh how much time you need, the impact on you of no adjustment and the impact on the team. Reasonable adjustments and sickness absence triggers in the NHS explain more.

Appointments for someone else

The right to time off for dependants covers emergencies involving a dependant, and it is explained in time off for dependants. Check that guide before assuming it covers a planned appointment.

If your request is turned down, ask your manager what the policy says, then ask HR. Your union representative or the Acas helpline can explain where you stand.