Why not scrap the self certified sick note which allows anyone to take a week off work without a doctor's note. To those who are 'that way inclined' this is just an easy way to have week off work. Go back to 3 days off only then a sick note required. Surely this would stop employees being off work when they shouldn't be. I could never understand why this was introduced in the first place.

M Gooder, Leeds, England

Simple maths regarding private industry - statutory sick pay is standard rate of £72.55 per wk ( the first week 29.02 as the first 3 days are unpaid)

Compared that to minimum working wage is £220 pw (5.52 per hour) gives approx £880 pm as opposed to £245 sick income for the month, goes along way ?

Obviously you can see why people enjoy and voluntarily want to be signed off sick with higher heating, electric bills to pay for the time they have to spend at home - mainly due to illness they contracted in the work place.

So labour once again take a low punch at the poorest and sickest of society.

Has anyone asked industry whether they want to cater to providing alternate work for sick workers (who have probably been failed by health and safety in the first place) !!!!

Or should be be looking the government look at sick pay they are paying their own workers ?

Fedup Truth-seeker !!!!, Lancs, UK

NuLabour never gives the real reason for their ideas - e.g. "we're increasing duty on fuel to improve public transport, and encourage people to use it". Well, TB said without the duty, schools and hospitals couldn't be paid for.
So what's the real story behind this one?
Could it be that the long-term unemployed now move on to incap. benefits, because nuLabour have made it so they can't claim dole? And now nuLabour realise that, although by doing this they have reduced unemployment figures, they still have a massive bill to pay?
Who will this affect in the long run - probably worst off will be those who work and get ill - who probably will need genetic evidence of their illness to present to their employer.

Name Withheld, Manchester,

This is a problem of monumental proportions, about 6 million in the Uk ARE ECONOMICALLY "INACTIVE", from the start lets get it clear IM NOT TARRING EVERYONE WITH THE SAME BRUSH, when I was a Bobby years ago I noticed when we did the antecedance of prisoners, hardly anyone was "unemployed" they were mostly on "the sick", its more money and better still you dont have to look for work, this was when the Tories were in power, since then its what 4.5 million on "the sick"-thats a lot of voters, I dont think ANY Party will seriously tackle this problem.

Steve, west midlands, uk

A quick back of the envelope calculation shows that the reported profits last year of British Gas, M&S & Tesco alone would pay for the salary of the entire UK GP workforce. Isn't it time that big business accept that Occupational Medicine is their responsibility? If they wish sickness absence to be policed it should be by Occupational Health Specialists employed at their expense.

D Stokoe, Liverpool, UK

Do you know how many hoops you have to jump through to be able to claim incap'. Hoops I might add that the Government have put in place, independent doctor's assessment, a claim form that ties you up in knots with its complexity and furthermore, a continual review of your needs... Government review, not GP review.
Yes I agree that the 'workshy' should return, but those with long term illnesses and disabilities that prevent them from working should not be made to feel like spongers or scroungers.
Making people answer what you 'can do' rather than what you can't will open a can of worms. If a person can climb stairs, does it make him a mountain rescuer, if a person can paint his bathroom wall, does that make him a painter and decorator, or a spot of light gardening, does that make him a landscape gardener. If by what this Government is saying, well yes it does.

It's all too easy to pick on the most vulnerable, perhaps if this Government hadn't wasted so much of taxpayers money through the NR debacle, we might be hearing something other than this spin. This is a good day to bury bad news (more Government sleaze and scandals).

Bill, Lincs, UK

and there are a lot of lazy shiftless nutters who neither work nor want; they can find time and money to drink alcohol, entertain themselves on the web, whine and moan about their lot. But, in the main, those people are not unfit for all work which is supposed to be the test for eligibility for Incapacity Benefit. The time for getting something for nothing is long gone. In the absence of total incapacity, rare indeed, G.P.'s should be required to confirm the nature and extent of the abilities of their patienrs, not their levels of incapacity.

matthew reilly, stirling, scotland

I Know people, who are milking it.
my husband had a quadtruple bypass, but he would not claim for any bennifits what so ever.
And he was only anormal man, no moneys, no savings.
But had a lot of PRIDE.
Not every one with Back problems, milk the D<L>A,. but their are more that do. and pretend, to work for 15 hours, and still get thier D>L>A>.

pat, manchester, England

What a soft sick nation we've become ,if people put as much energy into telling everyone why they are "unable to work "and actually used it to lead a purposeful life and contribute to the tax system encouraged by the first line of contact their GP.
Why are the Doctors whining we pay them 100k a year plus for what to hand out sick notes without responsibility.

Stephen., Carlisle, England

I assume the reverse will apply - that patients with no medical complaint will be able to ask for a Doctor's note saying that they CAN'T do part of their regular job - that involves

a) huge amounts of stress ?
b) heavy lifting ?
c) operating machinery whilst tired ?
etc

I guess not - funny how these schemes operate in only one direction - against you, never in your favour.

Clive, Surrey,

The Govt continues to in an Orwellian way to abolish the notion of illness or sickness, in fact I am soon expecting them to raise the dead like Lazarus so they they can 'go back to work', 'A New Deal For The Dead' as it were. So no understanding that the lifestyle and work culture in the UK may be making people very ill in the first place. Once sick people were sent to convalescence homes to recover, now they are to put on a 21st version of the treadmill, where in fact, they might become worse.

Further the reporting in the media on welfare benefits, etc is very poor indeed. Where are on earth does the Times get these figures from, have they consulted all of these people? did the DWP ring them up and ask them. Of course, most people want to work, benefits are minimal and claimants face a very coercive system but many can't , they are just too ill.

'Nine out ten of those going on to the benefit both want and expect to return to work.'

John Rogers, sheffield, Uk

If I wanted to advice patients back into work I would have chosen occupational health not primary care. This is a cheap way of offering occupational health by incorporating it into primary care not to mention that we have not got insight in what jobs on the workfloor entail and so are not in a position to judge.

M.Brugman, Stevenage, Hertfordshire

If I could get people seen, diagnosed and treated in a timely manner in the NHS, then I might have a hope of getting them back to work within a reasonable space of time. However as I am often signing people off for months or even years whilst they wait for appointments for scans, opinions, nerve conduction studies and the like, the chance of an early rehab are negligible. When will this Government learn that flogging people harder is not a substitute for proper capacity of services.

I presume he is going to want the cooperation of GPs like myself in yet another whacko scheme. He may find it useful to look up what the word means as he seems to have no concept of what it involves. I feel more antipathy to this administration than I even did to Kenneth Clarke.

tuxman, Notts,

It takes a good many patients all their time to get an early appointment to see their GPs by placing tyhis extra burden (of proof?) upon them may lead to further delays whlst the doctor has his longish chat with his 'working patients' to discover what work they are capable of doing.

Rodney, Lincolnshire, England UK

The inevitable consequense of care in the community.Many long term sick are mentally ill ,lovely people but not easy to place in unsupervised work .Also many physical injuries take longer to rehabilitate than allowed even if rehabilitation and retraining facilities had not been closed to svae money.Save money on rehab lose it in benfits,the goverment has only itself to blame.

G.P.EDlin, london, uk