New Release | WFM UK: Locking of Processed Absence (Sickness) Records | 23 April 2026

What’s New?

• Locking of Processed Absence (Sickness) Records
  We introduced restrictions on editing absences that include SSP and/or CSP once any part has gone through payroll. This has been in place since 23rd April 2026, when our Absence Refactor went live. Specifically, qualifying days can no longer be changed, the end date cannot be reduced to a date before or equal to the last date already processed through payroll, and the absence cannot be deleted. This does not apply to absences where SSP/CSP is not attracted.

For more on our current priorities and initiatives, take a look at our What We’re Working On article.

What changed

Following a review of technical debt and recurring support cases, we introduced restrictions on editing absences once they've been processed through a payroll. Specifically, where an absence includes SSP and/or CSP, once any part of it has gone through payroll:

• Qualifying days can no longer be changed
• The end date cannot be reduced to a date before or equal to the last date already processed through payroll
• The absence cannot be deleted

These restrictions apply only where SSP and/or CSP is involved. Absences without SSP/CSP are not affected by this change.

Why we made this change

SSP and CSP do not claw back once processed. If a qualifying day is changed, an absence is shortened, or an absence is deleted after payroll has already paid SSP/CSP against it, the payment itself can't be reversed. SSP isn't reported to HMRC as a distinct line on the RTI submission, but it does feed into gross to net, and those gross to net elements are reported. So the absence record and what's actually been paid and reported fall out of step, with no way to correct it other than a rollback. Our review showed this was the leading cause of a significant share of support cases. Restricting these specific edits protects data integrity in our system and in RTI reporting.

Impact

For payrolls run in arrears, this has minimal effect. Absence data is expected to be finalised before payroll is committed, so any late change is already a genuine amendment to a signed-off payroll.

For payrolls that pay in advance- particularly salary paid payrolls, we recognise this creates a genuine gap between payroll close and the end of the pay range. Any SSP/CSP absence that needs adjusting in that window will require a rollback under the new restrictions. We understand this is a real operational difficulty, not an edge case being dismissed.

What we're doing next

We're reviewing how to reduce this friction. We'll follow up with a further update once that review is complete.

We should have communicated this change at the time of release. We're publishing this note now to make sure everyone has the full picture, and we'll hold ourselves to getting this right moving forward.