HR Industry News

Support for Stress Sicknotes Promised

— 28 November 2007 —

The government will treble the number of employment advisers in GP surgeries and pilot a new £8m advice and support service for smaller businesses. The proposals are part of a new approach to help people with stress and other mental health conditions in finding and keeping work.

The scheme involves the development of a National Strategy for Mental Health and Work, with an advice and support service for employers, especially SME’s. Pilots that placed Jobcentre Plus advisers in GP surgeries will be expanded, while medical certificates are set to change in order to reflect capacity rather than incapacity.

The full package amounts to £13m funding over 3 years, a sum that Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, believes will be offset by the benefits to British business.

Each year many people are unnecessarily forced to give up their jobs because of mental health problems, which is a terrible waste of talent for British business and a great loss to the individual. This package is designed to help people keep well and in work, which will ultimately save businesses huge amounts in sick leave and contribute to a better quality of life for those who may have otherwise had to give up work.Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health

Ceridian's Paul Avis added, “Initiatives like this build on the success of the Pathways to Work pilots which implemented the new model of disability in real case environments, but the pilots were based on returning people to work from Incapacity Benefit rather than on those already in work which provides a whole different challenge.

“Specifically the GP is the employee’s advocate and not the employer’s. Much of work-based stress is non-clinical and can be caused by over-promotion and capability issues alongside interpersonal conflict. Hence whilst this is a good initiative it may struggle to have real impact until UK managers proactively manage absences and acknowledge that not every mental health is a clinical absence problem: it is a management one.”

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