The New Health and Work Service

Did you know that between September 2010 and October 2013 around 960,000 employees were on sick leave for a month or more? Clearly this puts a huge dent in the pockets of employers, the employee, and the Government in lost productivity, lost earnings, and lost tax/NI contributions, respectfully.

However, the Government has a plan, and will be rolling out a new Health and Work Service across the UK between now and April 2015, using money saved by no longer reimbursing employers for the payment of Statutory Sick Pay.

The new service is intended to encourage employees back to work using an Occupational Health assessment approach. This will be managed by Health Management Limited in England and Wales, and by the Scottish Government in Scotland.

Therefore, once an employee has reached or is expected to reach 4 weeks sickness absence, their GP will refer them to the Health and Work Service for an assessment, where appropriate to do so. It is envisaged that a resulting return to work plan will then be shared by the service with the GP and the individual’s employer.

One of the biggest issues for employers when their employees are on long term sick leave is getting accurate and timely information and advice on how to manage and/or address the situation. It is unclear whether this new Health and Work Service will significantly reduce this gap in communication between the three parties; employer, employee, and the GP.

Currently, employers can only approach a GP for information with the employee’s consent, and this is unlikely to change. Therefore, unless the employee is forthcoming regarding  a referral their GP may have made to the Health and Work Service, or gives permission for the employer to contact their GP, it is unlikely the employer will be made aware of the status of any potential referral. It is also unclear how any potential return to work plan will be communicated with employers, or whether the employer will be contacted prior to the plan being created so that it can contribute in terms of the employee’s job role, responsibilities, working environment, and what reasonable adjustments could be made (and what adjustments would be regarded as unrealistic). As a HR Consultancy we are very aware that the management of long term sick cases are different for individual businesses.

This change in the Government’s approach to  help manage long term sickness highlights the ever increasing need for employers, whatever their size, to ensure they have robust and clearly communicated sickness absence policies in place.

If you need assistance in addressing long term sickness absence, or in drafting an appropriate policy, please contact HR Response Ltd: 0115 9728708 or email sarah@hrresponse.co.uk