Less than Seven Days
If you are off work sick for seven days or less, your employer should not ask you for a doctor's certificate. You will need a medical certificate if you are off work sick for than seven days. The seven days include days that you don't normally work. So when you work out how long you've been off sick, you should include weekends and bank holidays.
Sick certification forms
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 their own form, instead they may use an SC2 form from HM Revenue & Customs Employee's Statement of Sickness. If you still require a sick note from the GP for sick leave that lasts less than 7 days then there will be a charge at the doctor’s discretion.
Please see the following link for more information
https://www.gov.uk/taking-sick-leave
More than Seven Days
If you are off work for more than seven days then you can request a sick note from the GP using the eConsult link below. Please note that the GP must have some evidence of this such as the notes from a GP appointment made about your sickness or a related hospital letter or they decline to issue you one.
Sick notes cannot be issued in advance but can be backdated so please make sure you fill out the form correctly and use past start date in your request.
