Sick (fit) notes

A medical certificate note must be signed by a doctor.

The Fit Notes mean your GP can give you advice to help you return to work. This is because work can play an important part in helping people to recover from illness on injury. The GP can either say you are not fit for work, or can say you may be fit for work. The GP will choose the option for may be fit to work if they think that returning to work – with support from your employer – will help you.

There is also space for the GP to give advice to your employer about the impact of your illness or injury and can suggest common ways in which your employer can help you return to work such as allowing you to work part time or temporarily or by changing your duties, for example, if you have back pain, avoiding heavy lifting.

Fit notes are also sometimes called doctor’s notes, sick notes, medical certificates or doctor’s statements.

If you are under the care of a hospital, your certificate may be issued by the hospital, rather than by the practice.

If you’ve been off sick for 7 days or less

If you’re off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. Instead, they 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. We call this self-certification.

Self-certification forms usually include details such as:

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

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 Employee’s Statement of Sickness.

  • 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.

If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days

To request a sick note:

If your certificate runs out, but you are still sick, you will need to consult the doctor again before you can get a further certificate.

Fit certificates can be back-dated so it is not necessary to make an emergency appointment to renew your certifiate.

If you attend an emergency appointment for the purpose of getting a medical certificate you will be asked to rebook.

Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.

Charges for Sick Notes

There is usually no charge for providing a fit note if you are off sick for more than seven days.

Some employers may request a fit note (e.g. from employees who repeatedly take time off sick) even if they are off work for seven days or less. This is a private non-NHS medical certificate.

  • For sickness of seven days or less, a charge of £20 is payable in order for us to provide a certificate.