'Fit notes' to replace sick notes

Business groups welcomed the attempt to reduce the 172 million working days lost to sickness absence, but unions warned that handing someone a list of tasks they could perform while ill would not help them get back to full fitness.

The sick note system has not changed since the NHS was created in 1948, but ministers maintained that the new fit notes, which could be issued electronically, would help sick people return to work quicker. The changes are expected to be made by 2010.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, said the earlier intervention was made, the more help could be given to someone who was ill. "Everyone has the right to work and we want to design a fair system which supports people so they can work when they are able."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Helping people stay in work does not just have an economic imperative, it has a moral and social one too."

Ministers said the package, which will cost £45 million over three years, would support disabled people, or those who became ill, to return to or stay in work by helping them manage their condition and get help to keep their jobs.

A national centre for health and well-being will be created, a health helpline will be launched for small firms, and employment advisers will be attached to GP surgeries.

Mr Purnell said the idea was to encourage a "fundamental culture change", adding that in the current economic downturn it was more important than ever to help people stay in work.

No specific targets for reducing sickness absence will be set, although the Government has an aim of cutting the number of incapacity benefit claimants by a million by 2015. Mr Johnson pointed out that half the 600,000 people who move on to incapacity benefits every year had previously been in work, a figure he hoped would be reduced.

The current sick note asks GPs to make a decision about whether their patient should work or not and how long they should be off sick. The revised fit note will allow them to indicate that an individual may be "fit for some work" and will allow doctors to provide advice about the impact of an individual's health condition.