Yesterday BBC News published some new research around the use of fit notes by General Practitioners (GPs) and other medical professionals. From sick notes to fit notes Fit notes were first introduced in 2010 to replace the existing sick notes system. Fit notes were designed to offer more than a binary choice between being either […]
Yesterday the CIPD published their quarterly Labour Market Outlook and this included some important new data points for HR experts and employment professionals. Hiring intentions down The most striking finding was this one; “Employer hiring intentions remain at the lowest level on record since we began collecting this measure in 2014, apart from during the
Survey indicates that more than 4 in every 10 employers take no action until absences exceed four weeks. A survey undertaken by Occupational Health Assessment Limited of UK employers representing more than 160,000 workers has found a major disconnect between employer absence recording policies and active ill-health interventions. Good and bad news The research suggests
CIPD report indicates absence rates continue to rise The 2010s witnessed a decline in employee absence rates. Yet the current decade has seen sharp increases, and a report this week by the CIPD has confirmed that employee absence rates continue to rise following the Covid pandemic years. The findings The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at
Last week the CIPD published the 2025 Good Work Index. The theme of this year’s report is the health of the UK workforce, a subject also under scrutiny in the government’s Keep Britain Working review published in March. What new data and insights are provided for employers in these two reports on the health of
It was five years ago this week that “non-essential” UK shops reopened after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article we will look again at the Covid risk and how employers can improve workplace control of infectious diseases. Much has happened in the half-decade since the start of the pandemic, and Covid
The NHS waiting list has long posed a challenge to both individuals and businesses in the UK. Yet now there is some good news, with the government delivering the promised 2 million extra appointments in just the first six months of their term. Crisis over? This rather promising progress could be seen as a sign
At the end of 2024 the government took the controversial decision to overlook the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s recommendation to award compensation to those people represented by the Women Against State Pension Increases (WASPI) campaign. The WASPI campaign centred on the increase of state pension age for women born in the 1950s, which many
Work-related illness The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was first established half a century ago, and it is undeniable that the HSE has made a massive difference to work-related illness since inception. In a press release issued last week the HSE’s Chief Executive, Sarah Albon, said; “This year marks 50 years since the legislation which