Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor’s sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a ‘Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work – ‘Fit Note’

The ‘Fit Note’ was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer’s support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury. For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).

Extending Sickness Certificates

If you  have a sickness certificate which is running out but you feel you are still not fit to return to work, you will now need to complete the renewal request form below.

• Please be aware that sickness certificates can always be backdated, but GPs are unable to forward-date them so you are unable to request a renewal before your current one runs out.
• If the GP feels you need a review appointment prior to giving you another sickness certificate you will be contacted by one of our admin team.
• If you phone in to request a renewal an admin team member will go through the same form with you and will send this to the GP – you will no longer be able to book an appointment for this directly.

Renewal requests for sickness certificates will take 3 working days to be processed.