Bradford Factor calculator
Enter the spells and days to get the score - with the exclusions, part-time and half-day handling that other calculators leave out.
The absences
Bradford Factor = S² × D, over a rolling 52 weeks. Exclude pregnancy-related absence (counting it is automatic discrimination), and usually disability-related absence as a reasonable adjustment - remove both the days and the spells they came from, or the squared term still punishes them. Part-timers: count days they were rostered to work, not calendar days. There is no legally mandated threshold and no ACAS-published trigger.
The Bradford Factor is S² × D: the number of separate absences squared, times the total days absent, over a rolling 52 weeks. Four absences totalling eight days scores 4 × 4 × 8 = 128. The same eight days taken as one absence scores 8. Frequency is what the formula punishes.
What does my score mean?
Less than the internet implies. There is no statutory threshold, and - contrary to a lot of published advice - ACAS publishes no Bradford Factor trigger points at all. Employers set their own, and they disagree wildly:
| Source | First action | Escalation / dismissal |
|---|---|---|
| bradfordfactorcalculator.com | 45 | 100 disciplinary · 900 dismissal |
| Breathe | 51 | 201 · 500+ |
| RotaCloud | 51 informal | 125 formal · 400+ disciplinary |
| Access PeopleHR | 51 informal | 201 formal · 401 written · 601 dismissal |
| Croner | 51 verbal | 201 written · 401 final · 601+ dismissal |
| BrightHR | 100 informal | 200-300 formal · 400+ OH referral |
| Bradford Teaching Hospitals (2017 tribunal judgment) | 20 review | 100 stage 1 · 300+ capability |
First action ranges from 20 to 100; dismissal from 300 to 900. Anyone quoting a single "industry standard" number is quoting their own policy. Pick thresholds you can justify, write them down, publish them, and apply them consistently - that consistency matters far more than where you set the line.
What the same days look like at different frequencies
| Pattern | S | D | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| One 10-day absence | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Two 5-day absences | 2 | 10 | 40 |
| Five 2-day absences | 5 | 10 | 250 |
| Ten 1-day absences | 10 | 10 | 1,000 |
How do you calculate it for part-time staff?
The formula takes no account of how many days a week somebody works, and that is a real problem the moment you apply one threshold to everyone. Someone working two days a week who has three separate one-day absences scores 27 (3² × 3) - exactly the same as a full-timer with three one-day absences. But those three days are 35% of the part-timer's working month and 14% of the full-timer's.
Read the other way round, the part-timer has fewer working days in which to be absent at all, so an identical score represents a much higher proportion of their time. Applying a single trigger point across both is how a scoring system quietly becomes indirect discrimination - part-time work correlates strongly with sex and with disability.
Leave the calculation alone - S² × D is the same for everybody - and adjust the threshold in proportion to contracted days. A trigger of 200 for a five-day week becomes 80 for a two-day week. Document the adjustment, because the point of it is to be able to show the system treats people consistently rather than identically.
Can the Bradford Factor be gamed?
Yes, and it is worth understanding how, because the answer tells you what the score is really measuring. The formula squares the number of spells, so the way to keep a score low is to take fewer, longer absences:
| Pattern | Spells × days | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Ten single days | 10² × 10 | 1,000 |
| Two spells of five days | 2² × 10 | 40 |
| One ten-day spell | 1² × 10 | 10 |
Same ten days, same lost output, scores a hundred times apart. So an employee who understands the formula and stays off for a week rather than returning after two days is rewarded by it - which is the opposite of what most absence policies say they want.
That is not really a loophole to be closed; it is the formula doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is discourage frequent short absences. The mistake is treating the output as a measure of how much time someone has lost you. It is not. It is a measure of disruption caused by unpredictability, and it should be read as a prompt to ask why the pattern exists rather than as evidence of anything.
What must you exclude?
- Pregnancy-related sickness - counting it is automatic pregnancy discrimination. Not a judgment call.
- Disability-related absence - discount it, or raise the threshold, as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010.
- Statutory leave - family leave, carer's leave and time off for dependants aren't sickness.
Remove the spells as well as the days. Dropping three excluded days but leaving the absence in the S count still inflates the score, because S is squared. Full detail in Bradford Factor exclusions.
Why scores will rise in 2026 without anyone changing behaviour
Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is payable from day one, with no waiting days and no lower earnings limit. Short absences that previously went unpaid - and often unrecorded - now generate a payroll entry, so they get logged. Expect measured absence frequency to climb across your workforce on paper alone.
If your thresholds were calibrated before April 2026, they're now effectively stricter than you intended. Recalibrate before the scores trigger action against people whose behaviour hasn't changed. Background in the April 2026 SSP changes and the SSP cost calculator.
Should you use the Bradford Factor at all?
It's a management tool, not a law, and it's a blunt one: it says nothing about why someone is absent. Use it to spot a pattern worth a conversation - never as an automatic trigger for action. Our full Bradford Factor guide covers the fairness caveats, trigger points covers the wider thresholds question, and the absence rate calculator gives you the volume measure that frequency scoring deliberately ignores.
This calculator applies the statutory rules as published and shows its working, but it cannot know your contracts, your policies or anything unusual about the case. Treat the figure as a starting point, and take advice on anything contested or expensive.
Scored automatically, fairly
CoDash calculates Bradford Factor scores from real absence records on a rolling 52 weeks - with exclusions handled, half-days counted properly and part-time patterns understood.