Employee Owner Bonus Scheme 2025/26: key terms and FAQs
This year’s Employee Owner Bonus will be calculated under BrisDoc’s first formal EO Bonus Scheme. Previously, the bonus was administered through guidance and FAQs. The scheme sets out the rules covering eligibility, hours, absence and leavers.
It is designed to meet Employee Ownership Trust requirements and protect colleagues who take statutory family leave or have disability-related absence.
Key information
- The Board has approved an EO Bonus equivalent to £1,000 for a full-time co-owner with a full year of eligible hours.
- Individual payments will be calculated from eligible hours, subject to an average limit of 37.5 hours per week.
- The reference period is 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
- Eligibility is determined on 23 July 2026.
- Payment will be made through the September 2026 payroll.
- Employee National Insurance will be deducted. The payment will not be subject to Income Tax where it meets the EOT tax exemption.
Eligibility and key dates
To be eligible for the EO Bonus, a co-owner must have:
- been employed by BrisDoc on 23 July 2026; and
- completed at least six months’ continuous employment with BrisDoc by that date, including any service legally preserved following a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) transfer.
This means someone must normally have started employment with BrisDoc on or before 23 January 2026. Previous NHS service does not count unless continuity was legally preserved when the employment transferred to BrisDoc.
The scheme includes eligible permanent, fixed-term, bank and zero-hours employees. A move between a BrisDoc bank and contracted position does not break continuous service.
Someone who qualified on 23 July will remain eligible if they leave before payment, unless they are dismissed for gross misconduct before the bonus is paid. Anyone who left BrisDoc before 23 July 2026 is not eligible.
Co-owners remain eligible while on sickness absence, statutory family leave or another authorised absence. The type of absence may affect the number of eligible hours, but it does not remove eligibility.
Eligibility is not linked to performance, Being Prepared, attendance stages, capability or disciplinary status. There is no 50% reduction for someone at Stage 2 or any other formal stage. The only conduct-related exclusion is dismissal for gross misconduct before the bonus is paid.
Who is excluded
The scheme does not include:
- employees who had not completed six months’ continuous service by 23 July 2026;
- employees who genuinely left BrisDoc before 23 July 2026;
- anyone dismissed for gross misconduct before payment;
- Non-Executive Directors;
- self-employed individuals;
- locums;
- consultants;
- agency workers; and
- honorary contract holders who are not BrisDoc employees.
These exclusions reflect the scheme’s service requirement and the fact that the tax-advantaged EO Bonus is an employee benefit.
How the bonus is calculated
- Hours from all eligible BrisDoc roles and contracts are combined into one calculation and one payment.
- Actual hours worked, including overtime and additional shifts, are counted.
- A worked hour counts as one Bonus Hour regardless of whether it was paid at a standard, overtime, weekend, bank holiday or other enhanced rate. The enhanced rate affects pay for that shift but does not increase the number or value of Bonus Hours.
- All eligible hours are combined before the average limit of 37.5 hours per week is applied. No one can receive more than the maximum full-time-equivalent bonus.
- An eligible co-owner whose calculation would otherwise produce no payment will receive a minimum participation payment based on one eligible hour.
The bonus reflects collective ownership rather than salary, seniority, individual performance or formal employment processes.
Hours that are included
Eligible hours include:
- actual hours worked across all BrisDoc roles and contracts, including normal contracted hours, overtime, additional shifts and hours worked under bank or zero-hours arrangements;
- paid annual leave;
- equivalent paid holiday hours for bank and zero-hours co-owners, including where holiday pay is calculated at 12.07%;
- statutory family leave, whether paid or unpaid, including maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care leave;
- pregnancy-related sickness absence;
- disability-related sickness absence;
- paid special leave, including compassionate or bereavement leave within the pro-rata five-day entitlement;
- authorised paid training time; and
- agreed paid EOT Trustee Director hours.
Hours that are excluded
The following do not count as eligible hours:
- ordinary sickness absence that is not disability or pregnancy-related;
- general unpaid leave, other than credited statutory family leave;
- unpaid special, compassionate or bereavement leave, and any discretionary extension beyond the applicable policy entitlement, whether paid or unpaid;
- unpaid training;
- volunteering leave, whether paid or unpaid; and
- hours above the average limit of 37.5 hours per week.
Volunteering leave is excluded because it is a separate additional benefit supporting activity outside normal BrisDoc work.
Sickness, disability and bereavement
- Ordinary non-disability sickness reduces eligible hours proportionately, but it does not affect whether someone qualifies for the scheme.
- Work-related stress and bereavement-related sickness follow the same rule. Hours will be credited where the absence is disability-related or a reasonable adjustment requires them to be credited. They are not automatically treated as disability-related.
- Paid compassionate or bereavement leave within the Special Leave entitlement is included. A discretionary extension beyond that entitlement is excluded, even where it is paid, unless it qualifies as statutory family leave, disability-related absence or another reasonable adjustment under the scheme.
- Any absence recorded as sickness follows the sickness rules.
- Pregnancy-related and disability-related sickness are included so that colleagues are not disadvantaged because of protected absence.
Relevant information is recorded within RotaMaster’s self-certification process but is not currently available through a standard report. The People Team will therefore review relevant cases confidentially rather than assuming that every sickness absence is non-disability-related.
Employee Owner Bonus: sickness, disability and bereavement FAQs
Select a question to read the answer.
Why does ordinary sickness reduce my bonus?
The Employee Owner Bonus is calculated using eligible hours during the 12-month reference period. Under the current scheme, ordinary sickness that is not related to disability or pregnancy is not counted as an eligible hour.
This is intended to distribute the bonus proportionately according to eligible hours. It is not a judgement about whether someone was genuinely ill, whether the illness was their fault or whether they have a good attendance record.
We recognise, however, that any reduction in payment may feel like a penalty. The operation of this new rule will therefore be reviewed after its first year.
I have had no sickness for four years but stayed off with a cold to avoid infecting patients and colleagues. Why should my bonus reduce?
Staying away from work when you are unwell and potentially infectious remains the responsible thing to do. You should not attend work when you are not fit to do so or when doing so could put others at risk.
Under the current calculation, ordinary sickness hours are deducted regardless of someone’s previous attendance record or the reason they decided not to attend. This avoids making subjective decisions about whether one episode of genuine sickness is more deserving than another.
The reduction only relates to the hours missed. Based on a £1,000 full-time-equivalent bonus, one 7.5-hour day of sickness would reduce the payment by approximately £4 before employee National Insurance.
I was unable to work because of an injury that was not my fault. Why am I being penalised?
The scheme does not make decisions based on fault. Under the current rule, an injury is treated as ordinary sickness unless its effects meet the Equality Act definition of disability or another reasonable adjustment is required.
We appreciate that the resulting reduction may still feel unfair, particularly where the injury was entirely outside the person’s control.
A member of my family died, and I needed additional time away from work. Why does it matter how the absence was recorded?
Paid compassionate or bereavement leave within the normal pro-rata entitlement of up to five days is included. A discretionary extension beyond that entitlement is excluded, even if it is paid, unless it is covered by statutory family leave, disability-related absence or another reasonable adjustment.
If the additional absence was recorded as sickness because the colleague was not well enough to work, it follows the sickness rules. It will therefore be deducted unless the resulting physical or mental health condition was disability-related.
Why is disability-related sickness treated differently?
The scheme was designed so that disabled co-owners are not disadvantaged because of absence arising from their disability.
The Equality Act defines disability by reference to a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term effect on normal day-to-day activities. “Long-term” will usually mean that the effect has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 12 months. Some conditions are automatically treated as disabilities.
Not every long-term health condition or sickness absence will meet this definition, and each situation must be considered individually.
I did not know that I needed to say my absence was disability-related. Can I tell BrisDoc now?
Yes. You can ask the People Team to review whether an absence during the bonus reference period was related to a disability.
You do not lose the right to raise this simply because you did not describe yourself as disabled or identify the absence as disability-related at the time. Some people do not realise that their condition may meet the Equality Act definition, and there is no general requirement for someone to formally declare that they are disabled.
This is not an automatic retrospective reclassification. The People Team will discuss the condition, its effect and duration, and how it relates to the absence. We may ask for relevant information or, with your agreement, advice from Occupational Health.
Please raise any request as soon as possible and before the September payroll calculation is finalised.
Can anyone simply change an absence to disability-related now?
No. A request will be considered confidentially and individually. The fact that an absence affects the bonus does not, by itself, make it disability-related.
The review will consider:
- the underlying physical or mental health condition;
- the effect on normal day-to-day activities;
- how long the effect has lasted or is likely to last;
- whether the particular absence was linked to that condition; and
- any information BrisDoc already held or could reasonably have been expected to know.
A formal diagnosis can be relevant, but the Equality Act test is principally about the effect and duration of the condition rather than the diagnostic label alone.
Why did BrisDoc not identify disability-related sickness automatically?
RotaMaster asks about disability-related sickness within the self-certification process, but the answer is not available through its standard reporting function.
BrisDoc will not assume that every absence was ordinary non-disability sickness simply because this information is missing from the report. The People Team will review relevant cases confidentially before the calculation is finalised.
Is work-related stress automatically disability-related?
No. Work-related stress is not automatically a disability. It may be disability-related where it forms part of a mental health condition that has a substantial and long-term effect, or where it is linked to an existing disability.
Where work may have caused or contributed to the absence, this should also be reviewed separately with the People Team and the manager, regardless of how the bonus hours are treated.
Is pregnancy-related sickness included?
Yes. Pregnancy-related sickness during the reference period is credited and should not reduce eligible hours.
If you believe pregnancy-related sickness has not been identified correctly, please contact the People Team.
Does being in a formal sickness process reduce the bonus further?
No. Being at Stage 1, Stage 2 or another formal sickness stage does not result in a 50% or any other additional reduction.
The same applies to capability or disciplinary processes and live warnings. The only conduct-related exclusion is where someone is dismissed for gross misconduct before the bonus is paid.
Does sickness affect whether I qualify for the bonus?
No. Sickness absence does not remove eligibility. Under the current scheme, ordinary non-disability sickness only affects the number of eligible hours used to calculate the amount.
What should I do if I think my calculation or absence classification is wrong?
Please contact the People Team as soon as possible. We will review the relevant employment and absence records confidentially before the payroll calculation is finalised.
Further information
For more information, please see the full Employee Owner Bonus Scheme at the bottom of this page. If you believe your employment, hours or absence records may be incorrect, please contact the People Team.
This information is based on BrisDoc’s Employee Owner Bonus Scheme V1.0, the Board’s approved 2025/26 bonus decision and HMRC guidance on qualifying EOT bonus payments.