Find out about Statutory Sick Pay if you catch swine flu, including whether you will need a doctor’s certificate to prove you were sick.
Current information shows that while swine flu can be a serious illness, most people experience mild symptoms.
Around half of people who become ill recover within about seven calendar days without needing to see a doctor. The rest take longer, but if your health is not improving by day seven you are strongly advised to seek further medical advice.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum payment an employer can make to employees unable to work because of short-term sickness.
No changes have been made to the rules for payment of SSP during the outbreak of swine flu. The normal rules still apply.
If you are an agency worker or temporary worker, you are entitled to SSP from the first day of your contract, provided you satisfy all the other conditions for entitlement. However, you must have done some work under that contract to be entitled to SSP.
For more information about SSP, follow the link below.
No. If you are an employee you can self-certify for the first seven days of your illness. An employer is not allowed to ask for medical evidence (including medical certificates) during the first seven days of absence.
Ill for more than seven calendar days - does your employer have to ask for a medical certificate when paying Statutory Sick Pay?
No. Employers are allowed to ask for reasonable evidence that you can not work. The employer is free to decide whether they need evidence and, if so, what evidence is acceptable – this does not have to be a medical certificate.
Many employers provide their own occupational sick pay (OSP) schemes as well as, or instead of, SSP. If your employer does this, they are allowed to set their own rules and conditions of entitlement for OSP purposes.
You should speak to your employer to explain why you are not able to return to work. If you are asked for a medical certificate and have not seen a doctor (for example you have only spoken to your doctor over the phone) ask your employer if they will accept other forms of medical evidence in your case, and if so what they are. If your employer still requires a medical certificate, you should contact your GP, by phone to begin with.
No. You do not need to have a medical certificate to show you are fit for work after any period of illness.
Doctors have a duty to provide a medical certificate for SSP and benefit purposes, to a patient they are caring for. There are a number of rules around issuing medical certificates that doctors must follow. For example, they cannot issue a medical certificate unless they have examined a patient on that day or the previous day and are able to make an adequate assessment of the patient’s fitness or non-fitness for work.
Where a patient has previously been assessed as having swine flu by their GP, and has been advised to stay at home while ill, a GP may be able to issue a medical certificate after a telephone consultation. This is for the GP to decide and depends on his clinical care of the patient.
Employers are being asked to consider other evidence (instead of a doctor’s certificate) as proof of an employee's illness during the swine flu pandemic to reduce the burden on GPs.
Flexible measures your employer may consider are:
Employers that operate an Occupational Sick Pay (OSP) scheme and have their own rules about sickness evidence are also being encouraged to operate similar measures.
If there is another widespread wave of swine flu the period you are allowed to self-certify for might be extended beyond the current seven-day period. If this is changed, it would extend the period of time during which an employer would be prevented from requiring a medical certificate from an employee.
The self-certification period would only be extended if absolutely necessary and for a short time.
Health and well-being
