Health checks for ill under plan to end sick pay compensation

SCOTTISH WORKERS will be referred for statutory health assessments if they are absent for more than four weeks amid plans to abolish compensation for firms paying long-term sick pay, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said.

Up to 95,000 workers in Scotland were on sick leave for more than a month each year between October 2010 and September 2013, according to DWP figures.

The numbers have been released for the launch of the Health and Work Service, a statutory referral scheme involving a work- focused occupational health assessment and case management for employees in the early stage of sickness absence.

It is expected to save employers about £70 million a year and will be funded through the abolution of the statutory sick pay Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS).

PTS, which provides some compensation for employers faced with high levels of sickness absence, is “an outdated system which does nothing to promote or support active management of sickness absences by either the employer or employee”, the DWP said.

It argues that any financial loss to business from the end of the PTS would be offset by a reduction in lost working days, earlier return to work and greater economic output created by the new scheme.

The Health andWork Service is designed to help employees who have been on sickness absence for four weeks to return to work, and support employers to better manage absence among their workforce.

Work and Pensions Minister Mike Penning said: “As part of the Government’s long-term economic plan, we are taking action to get people back into work. This is a triple win. It will mean more people with a job, reduced cost for business and a more financially secure future for Britain.”