Fitness tests at work to crackdown on 'sick-note culture'

Staff who have been absent from work for four weeks or more may return to the office to face a fitness-to-work test in what is being billed as a crackdown on the ‘sick-note culture’.

More than one million workers take sick leave for at least one month each year, costing the UK economy more than £9billion. But The Times report tough new plans are set to be introduced for those with long-term sick-notes.

The changes would mean that family doctors are no longer able to authorise long absences from work. Instead, patients would be sent for assessment by a private occupational health firm.