TUC: 'Fit to Work' notes less flexible

04/12/2008

The government's 'Fit to Work' notes will be less flexible than good sickness absence policies, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said.

The TUC cast doubt on a range of measures recently announced by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

By initiation a new approach, which does away with 'sick notes', the DWP hopes to return more people to the workplace .

However, head of health and safety for the TUC Hugh Robertson noted: "Good employers have already got sickness absence policies that allow for that and see it as an industrial relations matter for discussions between the employer and the worker."

Mr Robertson also cast doubt on the ability of GPs to advise workers or their employers on what duties they could actually do in their work.

Research by Dame Carol Black for the DWP found ill health costs the UK economy more than £100 billion each year.

Health secretary Alan Johnson announced the government's new initiatives. He said poor health "can prevent people fulfilling their potential, leaving them more likely to slip into poverty and social exclusion".

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