Skip to main content
  • Language
    • Afrikaans
    • Albanian
    • Arabic
    • Armenian
    • Azerbaijani
    • Basque
    • Belarusian
    • Bengali
    • Bulgarian
    • Catalan
    • Chinese (Simplified)
    • Chinese (Traditional)
    • Croatian
    • Czech
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • Esperanto
    • Estonian
    • Filipino
    • Finnish
    • French
    • Galician
    • Georgian
    • German
    • Greek
    • Gujarati
    • Haitian Creole
    • Hebrew
    • Hindi
    • Hungarian
    • Icelandic
    • Indonesian
    • Irish
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Kannada
    • Korean
    • Lao
    • Latin
    • Latvian
    • Lithuanian
    • Macedonian
    • Malay
    • Maltese
    • Norwegian
    • Persian
    • Polish
    • Portuguese
    • Romanian
    • Russian
    • Serbian
    • Slovak
    • Slovenian
    • Spanish
    • Swahili
    • Swedish
    • Tamil
    • Telugu
    • Thai
    • Turkish
    • Ukrainian
    • Urdu
    • Vietnamese
    • Welsh
    • Yiddish
  • Text Size
    • Increase Text Size
    • Decrease Text Size
    • Reset Text Size
Plas Meddyg Surgery Providing NHS services
Providing NHS services
Search
Show Main Menu
  • Home
  • Practice Information
    • The Team
    • Access Your Surgery
    • Opening Times
    • CQC Rating
    • Friend & Family Test
    • Practice Area Map
    • Patient Participation Group
    • Named GP
    • Out of Hours
    • Complaints Procedure
    • Data Sharing and Privacy Notices
    • Data Choices
    • GP Earnings
    • Practice Policies
    • Summary Care Record
  • Appointments
    • Appointments Information
    • Home Visits
  • Services
    • Bexley MSK Service
    • Change of Details
    • Clinics
    • Communication Consent
    • Diabetes
    • Enhanced Access Appointments
    • Fit Notes & Sickness Certificates
    • Flu Clinics
    • Maternity Self-Referral
    • New Patient Registration
    • Non-NHS Services & Fees
    • Repeat Prescriptions
    • Test Results
    • Update Clinical Record
    • Vaccinations
  • Online Services
    • Make online requests using Accurx
    • Book appointments, order prescriptions, view your medical records using the NHS App or Patient Access
  • Self Referrals
    • Adult Mental Health - Talking Therapies
    • Adult Social Care - Rapid Response Team
    • Antenatal care (Pregnancy)
    • Carers support
    • Chlamydia & Gonorrhoea Testing Kits for 16-24 year-olds
    • Muscle, Bone & Joint Pains
    • Community Pharmacy - 7 common conditions, high Blood Pressure & Contraception
    • Condoms & Lube for 16-24 year-olds
    • Continuing Healthcare
    • Diabetes Prevention
    • Drug & Alcohol addiction service
    • Gambling
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Healthy Weight
    • Hearing difficulties or problems with hearing aids
  • Health & Wellbeing
    • Advance Statement
    • Blood & Organ Donation
    • Cancer Screening
    • Cancer Support Services
    • Easyhealth
    • Fear of Flying
    • Living Will - Advance Decision
    • Local Health Services
    • Over The Counter Products
    • Self-Care & Self-Management Advice
    • Useful Guides
    • When to go to A&E
  • News
    • News
    • Practice Newsletters
  • Contact
  • Self Referrals
    • Self Referrals Services
Show Side Menu
Download Our Surgery Leaflet (PDF, 1.02MBKB)
NHS 111 symptom checker
NHS reviews and ratings

Key Information

  • Samaritans
  • Condoms & Lube for 16-24 year-olds
  • Chlamydia & Gonorrhoea Testing Kits for 16-24 year-olds
  • Young People's Drug and Alcohol Services
  • Vaccinations
  • Gambling
  • Diabetes
  • Living Will - Advance Decision
  • Advance Statement
  • Local Services and Support
  • Cancer Support Services
  • Self Referrals Services
Call 111 when it's less urgent than 999

BBC Health News

  • Ketamine helped me escape my negative thoughts - then it nearly killed me05 Jul 2025 00:08Young people are taking dangerous amounts of ket because it's cheap, easily available and helps them "disconnect", experts say.
  • The sale of illegal cigarettes signals a deeper problem with UK high streets03 Jul 2025 22:19Some black market cigarettes have been found to contain dead flies and asbestos. But the trade nods to a wider issue, a BBC investigation has found.
  • Seven ways Starmer's plan could change the NHS03 Jul 2025 17:29The BBC looks at what the government's 10-year NHS plan could mean in practice.
  • Women poisoned by fake Botox get apology from beautician03 Jul 2025 10:36As the BBC names a beautician who gave illegal jabs, two victims share their story.
  • Digital imaging cuts waiting times for skin cancer03 Jul 2025 06:18A digital imaging service has reduced waiting times for patients with suspected skin cancers.
  • New plan will fundamentally rewire NHS, says PM02 Jul 2025 22:34But nurses, doctors and health experts say that more funding and extra staff are needed to make it a reality.
Home > Fit Notes & Sickness Certificates

Fit Notes & Sickness Certificates

If you're off work sick for seven days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you've been ill. The seven days includes days that you don't normally work. When you work out how long you have been off sick, you should include weekends and bank holidays.

If you're off work sick for more than seven days, your employer will usually ask you to provide proof that you've been ill. They will normally ask for a fit note from your GP.

Sickness of seven days or less

Your employer can ask you to confirm that you've been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification. Self-certification forms usually include details such as:

  • information about your sickness or illness
  • the date your sickness started
  • the date your sickness ended

These dates may be days that you don't normally work. For example, your sickness could start or end on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday.

Many employers have their own self-certification forms. If your employer doesn't have its own form, it may use an SC2 form from HM Revenue & Customs instead: Employee's Statement of Sickness.

Sickness of more than seven days

If you're sick and off work for more than seven days, your employer will probably ask for proof of your illness. Most employers ask for a fit note from your GP.

However, this will also depend on your employer's company policy on sick leave (or sickness absence). This policy should tell you how many days you can be off sick before you need to provide proof of illness or a fit note.

Fit notes and how to get one

A fit note must be signed by a suitable professional, such as your GP. The healthcare professional will assess you, and if he or she decides that your health affects your fitness for work, they can issue a fit note and advise that:

  • you are "not fit for work"
  • you "may be fit for work taking into account the following advice"

For more information, including what "may be fit for work" means, see What are fit notes?

If you need a fit note, contact us and we will advise you if you need to make an appointment. We can often provided sicknotes without seeing patients if for example you have been in hospital.

There is never a charge from an NHS doctor for providing a fit note if you're off sick from work for more than seven days.

Last Updated 10 Apr 2024

Share

  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Bluesky
  • X (Twitter)
  • LinkedIn

Site

  • Sign In
  • Sitemap
  • Back To Top

About

  • Disclaimer
  • Website Privacy
  • Website Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Content Attribution

Contact

Plas Meddyg Surgery

40 Parkhill Road, Bexley, Kent, DA5 1HU

  • 01322 470595
  • plas.meddyg@nhs.net
© Neighbourhood Direct Ltd  2025
Website supplied by Oldroyd Publishing Group

Loading...