Med3 Fit Notes

If you’re off work sick for more than seven days, your employer will usually ask you to provide evidence or proof that you’ve been ill. They will normally ask for a fit note from your GP. Fit note is the informal name for the Statement of Fitness for Work. Fit notes replaced sick notes on the 6 April 2010. You will need to book an appointment to see your GP and obtain a certificate confirming your illness and inability to work.

The seven days include days that you don’t normally work. So when you work out how long you’ve been off sick, you should include weekends and bank holidays.

Sickness of seven days or less

If you’re off work sick for seven days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. The law states that you do not need to obtain a certificate from your Doctor for illness between 1 to 7 days.  If your employer insists that you obtain one, this service is not covered by the NHS and a charge will be made.

Your employer can ask you to confirm that you’ve been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification.

Self-certification forms

Self-certification forms usually include details such as:

• information about your sickness or illness
• the date your sickness started
• the date your sickness ended

These dates may be days that you don’t normally work. For example, your sickness could start or end on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday.

Many employers have their own self-certification forms. If your employer doesn’t have their own form, instead they may use an SC2 form from HM Revenue & Customs:

You can fill out and print the SC2 form at www.gov.uk.