Extension of who can provide an employee with a Fit Note

You will all be familiar with GPs providing employees with certification that they are insufficiently well to attend work on day 8 of their absence, enabling the employer to then process, for example, statutory sick pay.

Some new regulations, snappily titled “The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022″ amend the position to expand the category of people who can sign Fit Notes for the purposes of Statutory Sick Pay and making Social Security claims.  From 1 July 2022, registered nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists will also be able to sign the Statements.  The idea behind this is to reduce workload on GPs and as you can envisage the GP practice may pass some routine work to the practice nurse, for example.

However, employees are still going to primarily be thinking of their GP when they are thinking about evidence for their employer of them not being fit to attend work.

You will need to update managers on this development so that they appreciate that any paperwork they see with the four new categories of signature are genuine and acceptable.

Refreshing Law

20 June 2022