Proposals for future reform of SSP and Fit Notes


The Taylor review, published in July 2017, made some proposals to reform the rules on eligibility and accrual of SSP. Taylor wants SSP to become a day one right for all workers, regardless of income, to be accumulated over the course of the year like paid annual leave. He also suggests a right to return to the same job after long-term ill-health absence. The government has agreed to consider these ideas. 


In the DWP report, Improving lives, the future of work, health and disability (November 2017), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it wants to reform the SSP system to “support more flexible working” such as phased returns to work, including spacing out working days during a phased return. There will be further consultation on these and other proposals in the DWP report and the government has agreed to report back on a preliminary basis during 2018. 


Meanwhile, a government review of the Fit Note has concluded that the Fit Note is currently not being used effectively as a means of “enabling conversations” about health and work, focusing on how people can return to (or stay in) work, since just 6.6% of Fit Notes use the “may be fit for work” option. Here are the government’s future plans for the Fit Note:


• extending Fit Note certification powers to other healthcare professionals as well as GPs;


• designing a set of “competencies” for those tasked with completing Fit Notes;


• investigating whether, for the purposes of SSP, employers can use an Advisory Fitness for Work Report (which can be completed by some Allied Health Professionals, who work for specialist organisations in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and podiatry) instead of the Fit Note;


• improving GP training on use of the Fit Note;


• investigating whether clinical guidelines for workplace adjustments can be developed for the top five clinical reasons why people are off sick or on health-related benefits; and 


• looking at the role of Fit Notes in supporting return-to-work discussions with management.