Employee Didn't Show Up on Site? What UK Trades and Construction Employers Need to Do
A no-show on a construction site creates immediate safety and commercial risk. Here is the legally correct response for UK trades and construction employers.
Leon Mclean
Co-founder, Birchlow · Last reviewed June 2026
A note on UK law before you follow any US advice
Construction is an industry where much of the workforce operates under CIS arrangements, agency supply, or direct employment — often on the same site at the same time. The legal rules differ significantly depending on how the worker is engaged. This guide focuses on directly employed workers. If your workforce is primarily self-employed subcontractors, the disciplinary process below does not apply to them, though the guidance on what to do immediately still does.
A no-show on a construction site is not just a people problem. It is a commercial problem. You may have a programme to maintain, a client expecting progress, and a crew that cannot start a task without the missing person. The pressure to act fast is real. But if the person who did not show up is an employee, acting fast without acting correctly will cost you more in the long run.
This guide tells you what to do, in what order, with the construction context in mind.
First: is this person an employee or a subcontractor?
This changes everything.
Self-employed subcontractors who fail to show up are a contractual problem, not an employment law problem. You can pursue them for losses under your agreement, withhold payment, or terminate the contract — but there is no disciplinary process to follow and no ACAS Code to comply with.
Employed workers — whether on PAYE, through a labour agency you have taken on directly, or via any other arrangement where HMRC would classify them as employed — are protected by the Employment Rights Act 1996 from day one. The disciplinary process applies in full.
If you are not certain which category applies, that is itself a risk. Misclassifying employees as self-employed subcontractors is one of the most common employment law mistakes in construction. A worker who has been treated as self-employed but who a tribunal classifies as an employee will have the same protection as any other employee — including unfair dismissal rights.
The guidance below applies to employees and those who would be classified as employees by a tribunal.
What to do on the day
Step one: attempt to contact immediately. For a construction site this means the site manager or foreman making the call themselves — not waiting for the office to act. Phone, text, WhatsApp if that is how your team communicates. Document the time and the outcome. If there is no answer, try the emergency contact number you should have on file.
Do this before you make any decisions about the day's programme. You do not know the reason yet. A scaffold erector who had a road traffic accident at 6am is in a different position from one who is simply not picking up.
Step two: assess the safety and commercial impact. With a no-contact situation confirmed, make your operational decisions. Can the work proceed safely with the crew you have? Do you need to pull in a day labour supply? Notify the client if the programme is affected. Keep a record of any additional costs incurred.
Step three: notify the business. The site manager should escalate to the business owner or HR contact within the first two hours. If the employee has still not made contact, the formal process needs to start the same day.
Step four: send the written notice. If there is no contact by end of day, write to the employee's home address. State the date and shift they missed, confirm your contact attempts, and set a deadline for them to respond. The hub guide has a free letter template that covers this step.
The disciplinary process for construction employers
The steps are the same as for any UK employer, but the context matters when you are assessing the seriousness of the absence.
Investigation meeting. Invite the employee in writing to an investigation meeting. Give five working days' notice. Confirm their right to be accompanied. If they do not attend, proceed in their absence and document it.
In the meeting, find out: was there a genuine emergency? Is there a pattern? What was the impact on the crew and the site? For a labourer whose absence stopped groundworks on a fixed-price job, the commercial impact is a relevant factor in deciding the proportionate outcome.
Disciplinary hearing. If the investigation establishes that the absence was unauthorised with no adequate explanation, move to a formal disciplinary hearing. Send a written invitation stating the allegation, the date and time of the hearing, that dismissal is a possible outcome, and the right to be accompanied.
Outcome. For a first instance where the absence was short, a written warning is likely the proportionate outcome. For a repeated pattern, a final written warning or dismissal may be appropriate. For a prolonged absence with no contact and no credible explanation, dismissal after a fair process is defensible.
Right of appeal. Confirm this in the outcome letter. Five to ten working days is standard.
The full step-by-step disciplinary process guide covers each stage with the documents required and the tribunal risk at every point.
Gross misconduct and construction
A single day's unexplained absence is rarely gross misconduct. But the threshold is lower in construction than in some other sectors because the operational and safety consequences can be more acute.
A licensed operative — a scaffold inspector, a machine operator with specific qualifications, a person with CSCS responsibilities — failing to attend with no notice when their presence is required for safety compliance is more serious than a general labourer missing a day of labouring. Your disciplinary policy should reflect these distinctions, and if it does not, it is worth updating it.
Even where gross misconduct is the appropriate characterisation, you still need an investigation meeting and a disciplinary hearing. You cannot dismiss by text message on the day. See the guidance on gross misconduct dismissal if that is the route you are considering.
January 2027: particularly relevant for construction
Construction workforce tenure is often shorter than in other sectors. Many employed operatives on your books may have under two years of service. Currently, that means they cannot bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. From January 2027, the qualifying period drops to six months.
If you currently dismiss short-tenure workers without following the correct process because you assume they have no tribunal rights, that approach stops working in 2027. The process you follow for a labourer in month seven of their employment needs to be the same as for someone who has worked for you for five years.
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