Phased return to work

[Stumpy54321]

Hi. I’ve been off work for the past 4 months and recently agreed to a phased return to work with some reasonable adjustments. The time frame for the return is for one month. However for 2 weeks of that month I will be on holiday ( pre planned booked a long time ago ). So I will actually only benefit from the phased return for just over 2 weeks.

I will likely want to extend the time but how long is a reasonable time for a phased return?

Where I work it's a week per month you've been off. I wouldn't include my holidays in it either. So you would need another two weeks on a phased return.

You will need 4 weeks together so you phase yourself in gradually.
But that's not a good arrangement you have. Who ever suggested a phased return with 2 weeks annual leave during it?
The idea of a phased return is to allow you to build up week on week and allow your body to adjust to working again.
It's always recommended to have annual leave AFTER the phased return otherwise you are not allowing your body to adjust properly so if you have booked annual leave the recommendation from Occ Health would normally be for phased return to start after the holiday

Why on earth was your return set for when you're on annual leave?

My 2 weeks off are at the end of the phased return so I will be back for just over 2 weeks then off again. Originally I was gona stay off until after my holiday but just need to get back into some kind of routine

Oh right I see. I guess then you'll just have to go back after your break? Or can you have a shorter break?

I think I’m gona after my holiday extend the return for a further month so I get a month all
in one go or I may even stay off until after my holiday then start the return because the more I think about it the more it just doesn’t make sense to go back for 2 weeks

A phased return is not obligatory, and would be a maximum of a month anyway. I would say as you have the annual leave at the end of the the phased return, I do not think you would be able to request a further two weeks phased return after that. I think if you've already mentioned going back, you'd be in sticky territory saying you are going to extend until after your holiday on the basis of getting Less phased return as not a justifiable reason to stay off longer.

the phased return is for a month but I won’t be getting a month so I do believe I will be ok to extend it if that’s what I decide to do.

If you're well enough to go back, then you need to go back. You can't stay off sick longer just because you're worried about missing out on a phased return! I would start, then pause for the holiday and then pick it back up after where you left off. It's not like you will be idle for the 2 weeks holiday presumably so it will still help with your return surely. Just use the first two weeks to catch up with emails, sort log in issues, training etc rather than get stuck into any actual work. Then hopefully you will be good to go after your holiday.