Rishi Sunak will call for an end to “sick note culture” in a major speech on welfare reform, warning against the “over-medicalisation of everyday challenges and life worries”.
The Prime Minister wants the focus to shift to “what people can do with the right support, rather than what they cannot do”.
Mr Sunak also wants sick notes to be drawn from “professional work and healthy professionals” rather than GPs to reduce workload.
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The government is now preparing to consult on the plans, which form part of the Government aims to cut welfare spending to reduce expenditures and increase employment.
Mr Sunak Will said: “We should see this as a sign of progress that people can speak openly about mental health conditions in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, and I would never ignore or downplay the conditions people live with.
“But just as it would be wrong to ignore this growing trend, it would also be wrong to stand back and accept it simply because it is too difficult; or too controversial; or for fear of causing offence.
“To do so would be to let down many of the people our welfare system is designed to help.”
He would say that “there is growing evidence that good work actually improves physical and mental health”.
Mr Sunak added: “We need to be more ambitious about helping people get back into work and be more honest about the risks of over-medicating everyday challenges and life worries.”
The Prime Minister will say, “We don’t just need to change sick notes, we need to change the sick note culture so that the default job becomes a job you can do, rather than a job you can’t do”.
“Building on the pilot we’ve already started, we will design a new system that allows people to easily and quickly access dedicated work and health support to help them get back to work from their first Fit Note conversation,” he added .
It comes a month after Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said in an interview that there was a “real risk” that the medical condition was labeled a “normal ebb and flow of human life” and was criticized. People come back from get off work.
As he launched the government’s Back to Work programme, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned that “anyone who chooses to rely on the hard work of taxpayers will lose their benefits”.
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“If you can work, you should work”
The number of people unemployed due to long-term illness has risen sharply since 2020, reaching a record 2.8 million as of February this year, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
A large proportion reported suffering from depression, neurasthenia or anxiety.
government said NHS Figures show nearly 11 million fitness-for-work certificates were issued last year, with 94 per cent of people saying they were “not fit for work”.
Downing Street said: “A large part of this is repeated fitting notices being issued without any advice, resulting in missed opportunities to help people get the appropriate support they need to continue working.”
When someone takes more than 7 days off due to illness, employers will usually ask for a certificate of health.
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Disability equality charity Scope said it would question whether Sunak’s announcement was “about reducing costs rather than how we support disabled people”.
James Taylor, strategy director at the charity, said: “We have had decades of disabled people being let down by failing health and work assessments; and a fragmented benefits system designed to reinforce sticks rather than carrots. .
“The current record levels of inactivity are largely because our public services are collapsing, the quality of jobs is poor and poverty rates are rising for families with disabilities.”
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Alison McGovern, Labour’s acting shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “A healthy country is vital to a healthy economy, but the Conservatives have completely failed on both fronts.
“We’ve had 14 Tory eras, five Tory prime ministers, seven Tory chancellors, and the result has been record numbers of people losing their jobs due to illness – which has cost them, businesses and billions of dollars in tax payments. The toll on people is terrible, more so in spiraling welfare bills.
“Today’s announcement proves this failed government is running out of ideas, announcing the same small changes to suit the attempts we’ve heard before. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak campaigned for the abolition of National Insurance The unfunded tax plan of £46 billion brought about by the risk has once again crashed the economy.”
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