Sick Leave "A Big Problem for UK Firms"

A soon to-be-published-report looking at ways of slashing the £60 billion cost of poor health among workers will state the rules around sick leave and GPs signing patients off work should change.

The director for health and work, Dame Carol Black, and the former director of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, were asked by ministers to undertake the research.

Their report will argue that independent assessors should have the final say on absences for illness and not GPs, and businesses that hire people with continuing health problems should be given tax breaks.

The British Chambers of Commerce director-general John Longworth said: "Sickness absence and the rules that surround it are a big problem for UK firms - 70% of businesses believe that the rules on how to handle sickness absence are burdensome. On that basis, we welcome the deregulatory measures recommended in this review."

Lord Freud, Welfare Reform Minister, added that people on long-term sick leave were not given any help or guidance for up to 24 weeks and this then meant people were unnecessarily drifting onto state support.