Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will provide incentives to GPs to (a) promote keeping people in work and (b) help patients return to work after illness.

In 2010 the ‘fit note’ replaced the ‘sick note’ to better support people to return to work when they can. It allows general practitioners (GPs) to give more information to patients about the functional effects of their health condition on their fitness for work and improve the likelihood of their patient keeping their job by discussing ways they could be supported at work with their employer.

Fit for Work will help support employees to stay in work, and help get them back to work after a period of sickness absence lasting, or likely to last four weeks. There are no current plans to provide incentives to GPs in relation to this programme.