An independent panel of medical experts should be set up to decide whether or not people are fit for work, stripping GPs of the power to issue sick notes for long-term absence.
Employers should also be given the right to appeal decisions made by family doctors to sign off workers, while being offered tax breaks for employing people who suffer from long-term conditions.
Finally, a “job-broking” service ought to be established for those individuals who are unable to stay in their current job because of their conditions.
These are the key recommendations of a review set up by Prime Minister David Cameron in February and undertaken by former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, and Dame Carol Black, a Department of Health adviser.
The aim of the review was to try and find ways to get people back to work more quickly in a bid to cut the cost of sickness absence to the UK economy, which totals about £13 billion per year. It is estimated that the changes could see up to 20% of those who are currently off sick return to work.
In a statement, Frost and Black said: “What we discovered was a system that has serious flaws. We have observed that the current state benefits system fails claimants with ill health by directing too many to employment and support allowance, subsequently declaring most fit for work after a long delay.”
Their report entitled ‘The Independent Review into Sickness Absence’ published today, concluded that about 300,000 workers dropped out of work for health reasons each year. But the “flaws” in the system that resulted in a failure to return to work quickly enough meant that the time had come for an overhaul.
To this end, the report called for the Jobcentre Plus to “change its processes”. Staff should direct fewer people towards claiming benefits and those who were signed off sick should be put on Job Seekers’ Allowance rather than the higher Employment Support Allowance for a period of three months.
Moreover, if individuals were to claim the Employment Support Allowance, they should not have to wait 13 weeks before being assessed as was the case today because it meant that they could be on benefits from up to nine months before being declared fit to work again.
Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, told the BBC: “If what is being described is a proper health, occupational health assessment at an earlier stage in the patient’s illness, then that would be helpful. But if it turns out to be a punitive process just to try and save money without the best interests of the patient at the heart of the process, then it will fail.”
