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Bradford Factor calculator.
Calculate the Bradford Factor score for absence patterns and understand the HR band and next steps.
Bradford Factor score
112
Band: Watch — Support chat
- Annualised score
- 224
- Avg days per spell
- 1.8
- ·Use your actual sickness absence policy before any formal action.
- ·Treat this as a prompt for fair review, not an automatic disciplinary trigger.
- ·Check whether any absence pattern could be linked to disability or a long-term condition.
Planning tool only — not legal or HR advice. Bradford Factor scores mean nothing outside your own absence policy and its agreed thresholds, and should never be the sole basis for a decision about someone.
Next steps
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Bradford Factor calculator
Questions people ask
What does a Bradford Factor score actually mean?
On its own, nothing. The score weights frequent short absences far more heavily than one long absence, on the reasoning that scattered days disrupt work more. It only carries meaning against the thresholds your own employer has set and published. A score that triggers a conversation at one practice may be unremarkable at another.
Why does one long absence score so much lower than several short ones?
Because the formula squares the number of separate absence episodes and multiplies by total days. Ten single days scattered through a year score dramatically higher than one ten-day absence, which is the entire point of the measure and also its main criticism.
Can a score be used to discipline someone?
It should never be the sole basis for a decision about a person. Absence related to disability or pregnancy needs separate and careful handling, and using a raw score without that discretion creates real legal risk. Treat it as a prompt to look properly at a pattern, not as a verdict.