The Government has decided to proceed with the main recommendation in the 2011 ‘Health at work: an independent review of sickness absence’ report, i.e. the introduction of a health and work assessment and advisory service from 2014. The DWP have announced that the service will provide a state-funded assessment by occupational health professionals for employees who are off sick for four weeks or more, accompanied by case management for employees with complex needs who require ongoing support to facilitate their return to work and advice for employers and employees on overcoming the barriers that prevent employees from returning to work. The announcement also reveals some statistics about sickness absence, e.g. around 131 million working days are lost each year to sickness absence in Great Britain, approximately 4.5 days per worker or 1.8% of hours being lost, one million employees each year experience one or more spells of long-term absence (over 4 weeks) and employers pay £9 billion a year on sick pay and associated costs.
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