Give employees counselling over sick notes, report suggests

WORKERS who claim to be mentally unwell should be made to undergo counselling before they are signed off sick, a report backed by MPS has said.

A record 11 million “fit notes”, which replaced the traditional sick note in 2010, were issued last year.

An overhaul of the system to add options to refer workers for mental health counselling or physiotherapy would reduce the record 2.8 million people on long-term sick leave, a report by the Policy Exchange think tank said.

It comes after The Telegraph revealed a surge in people being signed off sick by doctors and nurses over the phone or on video calls, which Stephen Crabb, a former work and pensions secretary, said included “self-diagnosis”.

A post-pandemic increase in young people diagnosed with mental health conditions like anxiety and depression has left a greater proportion of people in their 20s off work sick than those in their 30s and 40s, figures show.

Experts have called for the reform of sick notes to include categories such as “additional assessment” or “ongoing assessment”, meaning Britons are given support to continue working.

The report has been backed by a cross-party group of MPS and Peers.

Sean Phillips, the head of health and social care at Policy Exchange, and the report’s author, said employers should play a greater role in helping staff stay in work “if we want to break the cycle of poor health and rising state spending”.

A Government spokesman said: “Our £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan will help over a million people start and stay in work, including those with long-term health conditions and disabilities, while our Occupational Health Taskforce will provide guidance for employers to stop people falling out of work as we drive down inactivity.”