Hundreds of thousands of workers off sick for more than a month will be referred for medical assessments under new Government plans.Employees will be checked by occupational health specialists who will attempt to draw up a plan and timetable to get them back into the workplace quickly.
It could lead to staff being given medical care, a fitness regime, retraining or a recommendation that they work from home.
The programme – the Health and Work Service – will not be compulsory but is believed that large numbers of the 960,000 people in Britain off work for at least a month year each could be included.
The Department for Work and Pensions said employers faced an annual bill of around £9 billion for sick pay and associated costs, while absent employees miss out on £4bn a year in lost earnings.
Ministers believe the programme – covering England, Wales and Scotland – will save employers £70m a year and cut the amount of time people spend off work by between 20 and 40 per cent.
It will be funded by abolishing a compensation scheme for businesses paying long-term sick pay to their employees.
Today, the move was criticised by union leaders who claimed it would lead to sick people being forced back to work before they are in good health.
Hugh Robertson, head of health and safety at the Trades Union Congress, said: "The focus of this service should be about getting them better as opposed to just back to work and the two are not necessarily the same.”
The DWP said the service would start operating this year and would be run by the private sector, with firms tendering for a contract to run the system.
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:47 pm