According to Government figures, about 131?million working days are lost each
year to sickness absence.
About one million workers each year have one or more spells of absence lasting
more than four weeks and some 300,000 people move from long-term sick leave
to claiming incapacity-related benefits. Sick leave costs the economy £15?
billion in lost output, the government estimates.
An independent inquiry concluded in 2011 that many people with “manageableâ€
conditions such as stress or back pain are being signed off work for long
periods.
In 2011, David Cameron promised to strip GPs of the power to sign workers off
sick. The Coalition announced in January the creation of an “assessment and
advisory service†that will provide occupational health assessments for
small employers whose staff are signed off sick for long periods.
