What We Record About Staff Health, and Why
Plain words you can give your team about the sickness records your café keeps in Café QR, who sees them, how long they're kept and their rights.
Updated 6 November 2026
Food law says food businesses must keep anyone who may pass illness on through food away from food handling, and the FSA expects you to keep a record. You can copy the text below into your staff handbook or give it to your team.
Text for your staff
We keep a short record when you are off food handling because of illness: the date, which of a few broad symptom groups it was (for example diarrhoea or vomiting), whether you were off work or kept away from open food, when the symptoms stopped and when you came back. We don't record medical notes or diagnoses.
We keep it to meet our duty under food hygiene law to make sure nobody handling food could make customers ill. Only the owner and the managers the owner chooses can see it. It is never shown on the till or to other staff.
When you come back, you confirm with your own PIN that you've had no symptoms for 48 hours. Records are deleted a year after you return.
You can ask for a copy of your records at any time, and ask for anything wrong to be corrected. If you have a concern, talk to the owner or your manager first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Privacy notice and policy templates
When you keep health records you need a staff privacy notice and an appropriate policy document. Ask Café QR support for the templates; they will be published here once they are final.