Employers have given a cautious welcome to radical proposals to tackle the costly problem of long-term sickness absence by using independent assessors rather than family GPs to judge a person’s work capabilities.
Recommendations in an independent review into sickness absence published at the end of November, suggest setting up an Independent Assessment Service (IAS) that employers and GPs can refer long-term absence cases to for bespoke advice.
Employers feel that this would be a welcome “next step” in moving the existing fit note system forward. Under this system doctors are required to make job-related decisions despite lacking time or expertise to assess individuals properly.
“The IAS is an excellent next step in the UK’s urgent need to rethink our approach to sickness related absence,” said Graham White, director of HR at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. He said that an independent assessor would stop employers, doctors and workers from blaming each other for the problem, as individual employers will have to use “proper job profiling” to ensure jobs are fully transparent for assessors.
Dean Shoesmith, Joint Executive Head of HR for the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton, raised concerns about the resourcing for the new IAS system, particularly when dealing with employers’ appeals against decisions and about whether the job-brokering service suggested in the review would get employer backing as HR staff may be “wary of inheriting sickness absence problems”.
Lord Freud, the Minister for Welfare Reform, and Ed Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, pledged to examine the report in detail and produce a government response in the New Year.
Data from the DWP showed that employers pay £9 billion a year on sick pay and associated costs. For example, statutory sick pay costs £1.5 billion, while occupational sick pay totals £6.9 billion and another £0.5 billion is spent on associated costs.
Employers for Carers has proven that supporting working carers by offering flexible working solutions and a supportive open culture reduces sickness absence. Carers who feel unsupported will often have to resort to taking sick leave to care and if the problem is left unaddressed could result in long term sickness absence if working carers cannot cope. Any monitoring of sickness absence and external intervention is an important step in recognising the root cause of the absence.
Click here for more details are available from the CIPD.
