Fit for Work

Fit for Work is a new scheme, being rolled out during 2015, that involves a referral for a voluntary assessment for employees who are off work through illness or injury. It is being provided by Health Management Ltd, a subsidiary of Maximus which has replaced Atos to deliver work capability assessments for the DWP.

Once an employee has reached or is expected to reach four weeks’ sickness absence they can be referred by their GP for a Fit for Work assessment by an occupational health professional who, if the worker agrees, will look at the issues preventing them returning to work.

Importantly, after four weeks an employer can make a referral if the GP has not done so. Individuals cannot self-refer, nor can hospital consultants. The scheme is not compulsory and workers will be allowed to refuse to be assessed or to follow any course of action or treatment recommended.

Judging from figures in the Black/Frost report, with a four-week trigger point, Fit for Work will mainly be addressing the small proportion of employees — just 4% — who had more than four weeks of absence in any given year, but accounted for 40% or more of working time lost. The employer’s own absence management policy will therefore remain decisive in most cases of sickness absence.

The assessment with an occupational health professional will usually take place over the telephone. Calls are handled on a “triage” basis before being passed on to a case manager. Employees can expect to be contacted within two working days after they are referred to Fit for Work. Where a face-to-face assessment is required, this is expected to take place within five working days of a judgment being made.

Referral will usually lead to a Return to Work Plan which, if the worker agrees, can be sent to the employer and GP. There may be cases where no particular recommendations are necessary as the worker is already be getting appropriate treatment and will be able to return to work when sufficiently recovered with no further action by the GP or employer.

Once a Return to Work plan has been provided it replaces a Fit Note as evidence of entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay. Government guidance says: “You can accept the Return to Work Plan as evidence of sickness absence in the same way as a fit note issued by a GP. You will not need to ask your employee for a fit note as well.”

An employee is discharged from Fit for Work when they have returned to work (including a phased return), or if a return to work has not been possible after three months. Employees may claim reasonable travel expenses from the Fit for Work service provider for attending an assessment. The cost of implementing any recommendations will fall on the employer, not Fit for Work, but there is no tax liability for any recommended treatment costing £500 or less. However, the Access to Work scheme may provide funding for adjustments for workers coping with a disability under certain circumstances (see page 31).

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says employee consent “must be explicit, informed, specific and freely given and must be given at different parts of the process”. The TUC adds: “Anyone referred for an assessment can also withdraw that consent at any time. In addition no report or plan should be sent to the GP or the employer without it being discussed with the worker first who can ask for changes or refuse to agree to it being shared.”

Fit for Work is not mandatory for employers, but guidance published by the Department for Work and Pensions encourages them to update their sickness absence policies to reflect the availability of Fit for Work. From an employers’ perspective the Engineering Employers Federation says it supports the service but wants the four-week referral by GPs to be mandatory and for SSP or OSP to be payable on the condition that employees cooperate with the Fit for Work service (EEF Sickness absence survey 2015). The DWP Fit for Work employers’ guide is available to download from the government website: www.gov.uk.

The TUC is generally supportive of the principles behind the scheme, but is worried that people may be forced back to work before they are well: “If any employer does say that they will refuse sick pay to anyone who does not take part then you should contact the union immediately. This is because workers for that employer will not be able to have the choice of giving consent and the provider should not be conducting any assessments on workers employed by them” (www.tuc.org.uk).

More information about Fit for Work: England and Wales: 0800 032 6235; Welsh language: 0800 032 6233; Scotland: 0800 019 2211; http://fitforwork.org