2. Developing absence management

Despite the long-term decline in levels of sickness absence highlighted in Chapter 1, and growing recognition of the problems caused by stress, the former coalition government and commentators on the employers’ side continued to emphasise the need for ever greater reductions in sickness absence. This looks set to continue under the new Conservative government.

The direction of current government policy on sickness absence owes much to the report Health at work, an independent review of sickness absence in Great Britain published in 2011 (the Black/Frost report).

The focus of the Black/Frost report was on longer-term absence and getting people back to work. But it also linked high sickness absence to generous occupational sick pay (OSP). However, it contradicted that by noting a wide variation in levels of sickness absence between employers who offer the same services and operate the same OSP schemes:

“Many of the good examples of relatively low absence occur in parts of the public sector that share a centrally-specified OSP regime (that is, a centrally-negotiated scheme for all employers within that sector), for example NHS employers, and the scheme for teachers and civil servants”. Such wide variation suggested that it is “not the scheme but its management that impacts on absence levels”.

The TUC view is that “most workers would rather be well and at work than ill and off sick” and it supports anything that will help people recover when they are ill. It therefore welcomed the most recent development in absence management, the Fit for Work referral service (see page 21) that is in the process of being rolled out during 2015.

There is strong evidence that early interventions can make a return to work more likely, especially in cases of stress-related illness and musculoskeletal disorders. But the TUC is also concerned that the emphasis of the new approach is “not to help people get well but to help them return to work”, and that Fit for Work assessments could put employees under pressure without any compulsion on employers to implement the recommendations.