Germany sickness absence: Doctor’s note now required from day one

Germany has just made one of the biggest changes to its sickness absence legislation in years, and it’s worth employers in Europe and the UK taking note.

Changes to Germany’s sickness absence rules

As part of a wider package of tax, pension and labour reforms, German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that employees will now need a doctor’s certificate confirming they’re unfit for work from the very first day of illness.

Previously, workers could self-certify for up to three days of their absence, or get a sick note over the phone for a week off. Both of these options have been scrapped.

The change in rules centres around cost and competitiveness, with the German chancellor stating that the country can no longer absorb the productivity hit caused by long and frequent employee absences that have only grown post-pandemic.

Germany currently sits seventh among 26 European countries for sick leave taken, averaging 3.6 weeks per employee per year, according to OECD data. That’s above the European average of 2.6 weeks per employee per year.

The tightening of the rules is an attempt to bring that figure down.

The UK’s SSP rules

In contrast, the UK has recently brought new legislation around Statutory Sick Pay, making it a day one right. The three unpaid ‘waiting’ days that used to sit at the start of any sickness absence have now been scrapped as of April 2026, so SSP is now payable from the very first day of sickness rather than from the fourth day.

In addition, the Lower Earnings Limit has also been removed, meaning employees who previously earned too little to qualify for SSP at all are now entitled to it.

In some ways, this has made taking sick leave easier for many more workers in the UK, the impact of which may soon be seen in the form of an increase in sickness absence nationwide.

Whilst many UK employers already offer full pay to employees when they’re off sick from day one anyway, many organisations that didn’t will see an increase in absence costs.

Both country’s changes highlight the need to track sickness absence

For both Germany and the UK, the reason to track sickness absence is clear.

Germany’s relatively high absence rates, when compared with its European counterparts, is a sign that organisations need to be diligent about how they record, monitor and manage employee absence.

For the UK, a significant barrier that disincentivised many workers from taking sickness absence to begin with has been removed, and the impact of that must be carefully monitored to ensure absences are handled appropriately.

Good absence and leave data does more than record each absence, however. It lets HR and business leaders spot patterns early and act on them before they become a bigger problem. With Germany’s stricter rules around taking time off sick, and the UK’s SSP costs now landing earlier and applying to more workers, visibility over team absences is not useful but increasingly, a financial necessity.