Retail surgery: What proof of illness must we ask staff for now that doctors will no longer be issuing sick notes?

As of April 6, the sick note has been replaced by the Statement of Fitness for Work, or ‘fit note’, as it is being called.

Sick notes - or medical statements - are the forms issued by doctors to people when they are ill or injured. They provide advice on whether or not an individual with a health condition is fit for work. They are commonly used by employers as evidence that an employee cannot work for sick pay purposes.

Previously, doctors could only advise their patient on whether their health condition meant that they should or should not work, so employers didn’t have the opportunity to consider how they could help their staff achieve an earlier return to work with support.

Under the new system, a doctor will give a ‘may be fit for work’ statement if they think that their patient’s health condition may allow them to work if they get suitable support from their employer.

If an employee is too ill to work, the doctor will advise this in the same way as with a sick note.

The statement is still not required until after the seventh calendar day of sickness, and the requirements for the payment of statutory sick pay have not changed.

But from now on a doctor will discuss with your employee how to get back to work, including the possibility of a phased return to work, reduced hours, amended duties or workplace adaptions. The idea is not to make staff return to work before they are ready, but to remove the challenges of them returning.