Hi Folks
I have inherited a very generous sick pay policy (fantastic!) and, surprisingly, it doesn’t differentiate between certified and self-certified sick leave. That has been very helpful in one particular case as it has allowed me to encourage a committed staff member to take sick leave rather than resign in response to the burdens of an extremely challenging family situation. So far we have not discussed certification as I am concerned that this would be yet another burden, especially given how challenging it can be to even get an appointment with a GP. However, I wonder if I’m missing something and we might hit problems later if we don’t get some sort of medical evidence on file. A quick look at HMRC’s info on SSP suggests they don’t really care about certification, but we are setting a precedent internally.
We have contracted HR advisers but they are very risk-averse and not very people-focused (I’m aiming to move as soon as I can get out of the contract!) so hoping some of you lovely people will have insights to share.
I’m also very aware (especially as I write this) that I may be very out of date on good practice around sickness certification. I have spent the last nearly 10 years in an organisation with no sick pay at all so may have missed developments.
Thanks
Liz