Helping employees to return to work
31 March 2010
On Tuesday 6 April, the ‘sick note’ will
change to the ‘fit note’. This means that when an employee falls
ill or is injured, their doctor will be able to advise whether they
may be fit for some work, if given appropriate support by their
employer.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has provided detailed
guidance on the new fit note system.
Starting on Thursday 1 April, the DWP has announced the
availability of a free occupational health advice line to help
small and medium sized businesses (up to 249 employees), with
issues affecting individual employees and those returning with fit
notes. Advice lines can be accessed at:
IOSH has produced two free guides A healthy
return and Working
well to help you support rehabilitation at work and
promote employees’ health and wellbeing. We also provide an on-line
occupational health toolkit. In
addition, IOSH has developed a pilot course with the DWP to help
health and safety practitioners to meet the challenge of helping
employees to return to work after long-term absence, currently
being evaluated.