Member Article

New proposals to reduce sick leave

One of the region’s leading employment lawyers has welcomed the Government’s proposal which aims to help reduce the number of people off work through ill health.

Robert Gibson described the proposal to launch a Government funded occupational health assessment service as ‘good news for employers’.

No date has been given for the introduction of the new service which will run alongside the current occupational health provision. The service will provide independent assessment of anyone who has been off work for four weeks or more, and will provide recommendations for getting the person back to work.

Mr Gibson commented: “Currently 300,000 people cease work in the UK each year on health grounds, and sickness absence costs employers about £9 billion in sick pay and related costs.”

“The independent assessment service will give guidance on how a person can make a full or phased return to work. The aim is to get people back to work quicker which will not only reduce the sick pay bill, but also benefit our economy. Employers will welcome this move. The service is estimated to cost anything from £25-50 million.”

Once the service has launched, employers will be able refer a member of staff to the service after they have been away from work for four weeks. Alternatively, if the company has its own occupational health provision, the employer can continue to use that.

Samuel Phillips offers a comprehensive range of legal services to business and private clients. For any further information, please see www.samuelphillips.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Hignett, i2i Business Solutions .