Statutory Sick Pay

(asked on 24th October 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has in place to communicate to key stakeholders in Government and the public and private sectors the outcome of her rapid review of the Allied Health Professions Advisory Fitness for Work Report which clarified that the report can be used to provide medical evidence for the purpose of statutory sick pay.


Answered by
Sarah Newton Portrait
Sarah Newton
This question was answered on 1st November 2018

The Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1985 already allow for other forms of medical information to be used in place of a fit note as long as there is an agreement between employer and employee that the other option, which can include an Allied Health Professions Advisory Fitness for Work Report, is acceptable. The regulations do not however name a particular alternative as being the most suitable replacement.

In November 2017, The Government Command paper “Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability” committed to investigating the feasibility of using the AHP Advisory Fitness for Work Report for the purposes of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). The Paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lives-the-future-of-work-health-and-disability

A rapid review was held in February 2018 involving extensive work by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) with its fellow organisations under the Allied Health Professions Federation and the Joint Department for Health and Social Care and Department for Work and Pensions Work and Health Unit. Following this, the RCOT and Chartered Society of Physiotherapists released a statement advising their members that the Allied Health Professions report can be used to provide evidence for the purposes of SSP and encouraging them to increase their use of this document within their professional remits.

The link to statement can be found here: https://www.rcot.co.uk/news/ahp-advisory-fitness-work-report-admissible-evidence-statutory-sick-pay

Reticulating Splines