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| Ministers back 'fit note' plans | Ministers back 'fit note' plans |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Employee "fit notes" are to be brought in as part of government efforts to cut the amount of money lost to the economy from workplace absenteeism. | Employee "fit notes" are to be brought in as part of government efforts to cut the amount of money lost to the economy from workplace absenteeism. |
| The idea is for GPs to spell out those tasks workers are able to perform rather than the traditional "sick note" focusing on what they cannot do. | The idea is for GPs to spell out those tasks workers are able to perform rather than the traditional "sick note" focusing on what they cannot do. |
| There will also be more support to help people back to work with firms encouraged to promote healthier living. | There will also be more support to help people back to work with firms encouraged to promote healthier living. |
| A report in March warned ill-health was costing the economy £100bn a year. | |
| Returning to work | |
| Ministers have accepted recommendations made by government health advisor Dame Carol Black that the system of GPs issuing sick notes, in place since 1948, should be overhauled. | |
| Trials replacing paper notes with electronic fit notes are underway and, if successful, the new system could be in place by 2010. | |
| Poor health can prevent people fulfilling their potential, leaving them more likely to slip into poverty and social exclusion Health Secretary Alan Johnson | |
| The new fit notes, outlining what duties an employee could do, would be passed on to employers if he or she agreed. | |
| They are intended to form part of a package of support offered by employers and health professionals to help staff with health problems stay in work and to return to the workplace as soon as possible. | |
| Carol Black's report highlighted the impact on economic productivity of improving occupational health and reducing the number of people, currently more than 2.7 million of whom, are on incapacity benefits. | |
| Unions have long complained that there is insufficient support for people unable to work due to sickness or injury. | |
| Health Secretary Alan Johnson, who has also announced a review of the health of NHS workers, said he wanted to help encourage people off work to return as "soon as possible". | |
| "Helping people stay in work doesn't just have an economic imperative," he said. | |
| "It has a moral and social one too. Poor health can prevent people fulfilling their potential, leaving them more likely to slip into poverty and social exclusion." |