Graded Return-to-Work Plan Builder
Phased hours and duties week by week, adjustments, reviews and sign-off in one plan.
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Graded return to work Hours, duties, adjustments, reviews and sign-off · Sources
The employee
Absence and fit note
Phased hours
Hours rise by equal steps to full hours in the last week, rounded to the nearest half hour. Type over any week to set it yourself; clear the field to go back to the worked-out value.
Paste rows from a spreadsheet Week, Hours, Days, Duties — or Adjustment, Who arranges it, By when
Adjustments
Changes at work that help: start times, breaks, equipment, travel, working from home, tasks to avoid.
Keeping in touch
Your entries
The page does not keep your entries: save them as a file to open them here again later. Nothing is uploaded.
The plan
Rules used and official sources
- GOV.UK: Fit note collection
- GOV.UK: Getting the most out of the fit note (employers and line managers)
The weekly steps are this tool’s own rule (equal steps to full hours, to the nearest half hour). The fit note options and how employers use them follow GOV.UK’s guidance for Great Britain. A plan to agree with the employee, not medical advice.
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How this tool is checked
- Based on
- the method set out under ‘How the weekly hours are worked out’.
- Sources
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This guide lists 2 sources under ‘Official sources’:
- Tests
- 18 automated tests check its results.
- Found an error?
- Report a problem or write to support@mysmartcopilot.com, with what you entered and the result you expected.
About the Graded Return-to-Work Plan Builder
A graded (phased) return to work brings someone back after an illness, injury or operation a step at a time: fewer hours at first, lighter or different duties, and changes at work that help, reviewed every week or two until they are back to normal. Written down, the plan makes it clear to the employee, their manager and HR what was agreed.
Enter the return date, the normal hours, the share of hours to start at and the length of the plan: the builder works out every week's hours (equal steps up to full hours in the last week, to the nearest half hour), spread over shorter days or fewer days, with the dates of the review meetings. Add duties for each week, the adjustments and who arranges them, and, if there is one, what the fit note says. The finished plan is laid out on the page with signature lines, ready to go through with the employee. Your details stay on your device.
Without a pass the plan is a free preview: every page as an image marked “not for use”, with your details readable and the first part of the wording; the clean PDF and Word file, Copy and Print unlock with a Premium pass.
How to use it
- Enter the employee, their job and their line manager; add HR or occupational health if they are involved.
- If there is a fit note, tick what it says under “may be fit for work” and enter its dates and comments.
- Set the return date, the normal hours and days a week, the share of hours for week 1 and the number of weeks; choose shorter days or fewer days.
- Change any week by hand, add duties for each week, and list the adjustments (or import weeks or adjustments from a CSV or Excel file, or paste the rows).
- Check the plan on the page and the points listed under it. Without a pass it shows as a marked free preview; unlock it with a Premium pass to download the PDF or Word file, copy or print it.
Examples
Week 1: 19 hours (18.75 rounded), week 2: 25, week 3: 31.5 (31.25 rounded), week 4: 37.5 — five days each, from 3.8 to 7.5 hours a day.
Week 1: 3 days, week 2: 4 days, weeks 3 and 4: 5 days.
Weekly hours 15, 19.5, 24, 28.5, 33, 37.5; reviews at the end of weeks 1, 3, 5 and 6.
Common uses
- A line manager agreeing a phased return with an employee after an operation.
- HR turning fit note advice (a phased return, altered hours) into a dated schedule.
- An occupational therapist drafting the hours and duties to discuss with an employer.
- Keeping one written record of what was agreed and when it will be reviewed.
How the weekly hours are worked out
Week 1 is the share of normal hours you choose. Each later week goes up by the same step so that the last week of the plan is at full hours: with 4 weeks from 50%, the steps are 50%, 66.7%, 83.3% and 100%. Each week is rounded to the nearest half hour (halves up), and never above normal hours.
- Shorter days: every normal working day, each shorter (hours ÷ normal days).
- Fewer days: as many days of the normal length as the hours need, rounded up, so no day is longer than usual.
Any week you set by hand is kept as you typed it, and the plan points out a week with fewer hours than the one before it.
The fit note and what it can say
In Great Britain a healthcare professional can say on a fit note that someone may be fit for work with a phased return to work (a gradual increase in work duties or hours), altered hours (changes to the times or duration of work), amended duties (changing duties to take account of a condition), workplace adaptations (changing aspects of the workplace, including working from home). GOV.UK’s guidance for employers says this is advice: you consider it with the employee and agree any changes, and if you cannot make them the same fit note is evidence for sick pay. An employee can return before their fit note ends without being “signed back”, and the guidance suggests that changes in general last at least until the fit note ends; the builder checks the plan against the note’s dates. Outside Great Britain, use the same fields for the medical or occupational health advice you have, or leave them out.
Reviews and keeping in touch
Reviews fall on the last weekday of the weeks you choose (every week, every two weeks, or only at the end) and always at the end of the plan, when you agree full duties or the next steps. Record any change you agree at a review on the plan itself, so everyone works from the same version.
Official sources
Limitations
- It does not decide whether someone is fit to work, or what adjustments they need: that comes from the employee, their healthcare professional and occupational health.
- Sick pay, pay during the phased weeks and holiday are not worked out; agree them separately (pay rules depend on the contract and the country).
- Weeks run seven days from the return date; days off for appointments or public holidays are not taken out of the hours.
- Plans run from 1 to 26 weeks. A longer return is usually planned again at a review.
- The page does not keep your entries: save them as a file to open them here again later.
Privacy
On this device: nothing is sent
Everything you type, including health details, stays in this browser: nothing is uploaded or stored on a server. Only what the employee has agreed to share belongs in the plan.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Graded Return-to-Work Plan Builder shows every page with your details, the first part of the wording readable and the rest hidden, marked “MySmartCoPilot preview · not for use”. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded, copied or printed. A Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment unless you choose automatic renewal, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
How long should a phased return to work last?
It depends on the person, their job and the advice they have; the builder takes 1 to 26 weeks. In the first six months of a condition a GB fit note covers at most three months at a time, and the guidance suggests changes last at least until the note ends.
Does an employee need a fit note to come back to work?
No. Under GOV.UK’s guidance nobody needs to be signed back to work, and an employee can return before their fit note ends; a fit note is only needed while they are unable to work.
Do I have to follow the advice on a fit note?
It is advice, not an instruction. Consider it with the employee and agree what changes you can make; if none can be made, the same fit note is evidence for sick pay.
Can the hours go up faster or slower?
Yes. Change the starting share or the number of weeks, or type any week’s hours yourself; the plan keeps your figures and checks that no week goes above normal hours.
Can I import the schedule from a spreadsheet?
Yes: a CSV or Excel sheet with the columns Week, Hours, Days and Duties fills those weeks, and one with Adjustment, Who arranges it and By when adds adjustments. You can also paste the rows. The templates show the columns.
Is the plan stored anywhere?
No. It is made in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Save your entries as a file if you want to come back to them.