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Sick (fit) notes

If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days

Hospital Procedures

If you have been admitted to hospital or undergone a procedure, the hospital team responsible for your care should provide your fit note (sick note) following your operation or treatment. Please ask the hospital for this before you are discharged, as they are best placed to advise how long you will need to be off work.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Assessments

If you are undergoing a DWP assessment and have been advised that you need a fit note from your GP while your claim is being assessed, please provide a copy of the letter from the DWP confirming this requirement. Once we have received this information, we can review your request and issue a fit note if appropriate.

To request a sick note:

If you’ve been off sick for 7 days or less

If you’re off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. Instead, they 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. We call this self-certification.

Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.

Page published: 9 May 2023
Last updated: 17 June 2026