Sick Notes: Changes To Who Issues them Abandoned

Back on the 19th April 2024, the previous Government announced plans to move responsibility for assessing fitness to work and the issuing of sick notes away from GP’s to “specialist work and health professionals“, to address the fact that the number of people who have become economically inactive has reached record levels (hitting 2.8 million in early 2024). However, in a statement in the House of Lords on the 3rd February 2025, the Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions), Baroness Sherlock, stated on behalf of the Government: "The Government has no current plans to reform the fit note (Statement of Fitness for Work) in terms of the content of the form or the healthcare professionals who are legally allowed to issue them". Accordingly, the changes have been abandoned.