Medical certificates or statements are forms issued by doctors to people when they are sick or injured. They are commonly used by employees as evidence to support absence from work and to claim sick pay.

Many people with health conditions can, with some basic support from their employer, work as they recover from their condition. This may help the individual because for many people work can assist the recovery and also benefits the employer by reducing sickness absence.

Under the sick note system, doctors could only advise their patient on whether their health condition meant that they should or should not attend work. As a result many people who could benefit from support whilst in work, would be advised that they could not work. Their employers would not have had the opportunity to consider how they could help them achieve an earlier return to work.

The new fit note system will mean that doctors can advise that an employee is either:

A doctor will give a ‘may be fit for work’ Statement if they think that their patient’s health condition may allow them to work if they get suitable support from their employer. The doctor will also provide written comments on the form offering a more detailed view of the kind of things that may help. For example, how an employee’s condition will affect what they do and some of the things that could help the employee return to work.

If an employee is too ill to work the doctor will advise this just like with the sick note.