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Sick (fit) notes

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.

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

For first sick notes, you will often need to discuss your problem with a clinician for this to be issued. You can book an urgent appointment to discuss this.

To request a sick note, you can: