It’s about to get harder to get a sick note. Instead of coming down on the career sick, the workers are going to have to bear the brunt of the cost saving to the DHSS. I’m reliably informed that many doctors have had a slapping about it and sick notes are going to be hard to come by. So, if you were still feeling rough after your first week of self-certification but the quack wouldn’t sign you as sick, what would you do?
Pesonally, I would ask him if he was prepared to take the points, fine and bird should I hurt someone through driving whilst I really not feeling up to it.
In reality it’s the driver’s responsibility not to drive if not feeling well enough to do so.The government are just saying that they won’t pay for it and neither will the guvnor.If you’re not well enough to drive it’ll just be a case of ok take the time off but you won’t get paid so we can afford to pay an east european agency driver.If you’re not fit enough to come back within the time we’re prepared to give it then you’re sacked.When you sign on you’ll be considered as fit for work unless you’re paralysed from the neck down.In which case you’ll be sent to work for the dole money.Simples. Welcome to commie Chinese sweatshop Britain.
Carryfast:
In reality it’s the driver’s responsibility not to drive if not feeling well enough to do so.The government are just saying that they won’t pay for it and neither will the guvnor.If you’re not well enough to drive it’ll just be a case of ok take the time off but you won’t get paid so we can afford to pay an east european agency driver.If you’re not fit enough to come back within the time we’re prepared to give it then you’re sacked.When you sign on you’ll be considered as fit for work unless you’re paralysed from the neck down.In which case you’ll be sent to work for the dole money.Simples. Welcome to commie Chinese sweatshop Britain.
Doctors and hospital specialists are being taken out of the decision making for work fitness, a benefits advisor (17 year old spotty herbert in shorts, tory boy lookalike) will decide if you are work fit or not, as this is the case why are we spending billions on doctors when clearly they are no longer needed, a £6.80 an hour kid does the job now!
Carryfast:
In reality it’s the driver’s responsibility not to drive if not feeling well enough to do so.The government are just saying that they won’t pay for it and neither will the guvnor.If you’re not well enough to drive it’ll just be a case of ok take the time off but you won’t get paid so we can afford to pay an east european agency driver.If you’re not fit enough to come back within the time we’re prepared to give it then you’re sacked.When you sign on you’ll be considered as fit for work unless you’re paralysed from the neck down.In which case you’ll be sent to work for the dole money.Simples. Welcome to commie Chinese sweatshop Britain.
Doctors and hospital specialists are being taken out of the decision making for work fitness, a benefits advisor (17 year old spotty herbert in shorts, tory boy lookalike) will decide if you are work fit or not, as this is the case why are we spending billions on doctors when clearly they are no longer needed, a £6.80 an hour kid does the job now!
You’re missing the point.It’s all about money by making people pay for what is,effectively,worthless,so called sick pay cover,by moving the goalposts of claim conditions to the point where the cover is no longer existent.Fitness for work effectively now means if you can get out of bed or get to the job centre then you’re considered as fit for work regardless of wether that ‘work’ has zb all to do with driving anything or not.Which just leaves the question of wether or not you’ve got an illness that means the guvnor will sack you before you’re fit enough to get back to driving the wagon.If not it’s down to the jobcentre where you’ll be put to work for the dole money.
Coffeeholic:
Last sick note I had was 34 years ago so I’m not overly worried about any changes to the system.
Are they still written on parchment?
That was probably when they brought in prescription charges…
You’ll have had your tea?
I didn’t know there were prescription charges. It’s well over 40 years since I had one of them, I was certainly under 10. How much is a prescription then?
DoYouMeanMe?:
What I was trying to say, which seems hard for some to grasp, is the doctors have been told, get them back to work!
My question is, should you be driving a truck when you are not well?
I’ve answered the question in the previous posts.It’s the ‘driver’s’ responsibility not to drive if the ‘driver’ doesn’t feel well enough to do so.The issue of wether you’ll get paid if the ‘government’ decide that you’re fit enough ‘for work’,in this case any type of work,that someone who isn’t paralysed from the neck down could concievably do,is a totally different matter, bearing in mind that the guvnor can sack you if he feels that you’ve taken too many days off work.
DoYouMeanMe?:
What I was trying to say, which seems hard for some to grasp, is the doctors have been told, get them back to work!
If a doctor considers you fit to work without being a danger to yourself or others he will tell you so.
DoYouMeanMe?:
My question is, should you be driving a truck when you are not well?
NO!!!
Which means you won’t get any sick money though.
This has been done very underhandedly. No press coverage, just doctors being told to reduce the sick pay costs to UK ltd. Hardly fair on people who have worked hard for years and now are not well.
Coffeeholic:
Last sick note I had was 34 years ago so I’m not overly worried about any changes to the system.
Are they still written on parchment?
That was probably when they brought in prescription charges…
You’ll have had your tea?
I didn’t know there were prescription charges. It’s well over 40 years since I had one of them, I was certainly under 10. How much is a prescription then?
DoYouMeanMe?:
What I was trying to say, which seems hard for some to grasp, is the doctors have been told, get them back to work!
If a doctor considers you fit to work without being a danger to yourself or others he will tell you so.
DoYouMeanMe?:
My question is, should you be driving a truck when you are not well?
NO!!!
Which means you won’t get any sick money though.
This has been done very underhandedly. No press coverage, just doctors being told to reduce the sick pay costs to UK ltd. Hardly fair on people who have worked hard for years and now are not well.
The whole zb social security system hasn’t been ‘fair’ for years.It’s just a big tax raising scam that,if it was a private income protection insurance policy,no one with any intelligence at all,would bother to waste money on or,even worse,rely on,to provide for them in case of redundancy or sickness.
Coffeeholic:
Last sick note I had was 34 years ago so I’m not overly worried about any changes to the system.
Are they still written on parchment?
That was probably when they brought in prescription charges…
You’ll have had your tea?
I didn’t know there were prescription charges. It’s well over 40 years since I had one of them, I was certainly under 10. How much is a prescription then?
£7+. What synagogue did you go to in Embra?
Isn’t it obvious? The Synagogue of Good Health.
I’ve looked it up since I came in from work and apparently there are no prescription charges back home. Maybe more people in England should vote SNP, no toll charges, no prescription charges, no university tuition fees.
Prescriptions are also free in Wales. Although I’ve only had two in my adult life. And never had a sick note. As a tramper I always just considered it an unwritten rule that you can really have days off sick if out. I’ve had to plough food poisoning & flu. Colds are easy enough. I did find flu a bit hard to carry on once so HSF allowed me to park up at midday till morning! So I suppose I’ve had half a day off sick as a tramper!
I suppose it’s easy enough though as I do a lot of fridge work up and down motorways, it’d be a different story if I was unloading pallets by hand or such like.
If you get no sick pay, it should not be possible for an employer to penalise you should you go sick.
If the firm is worried about “sicknote sid” types who’ll take a week off for a cold etc. then all they need to do is incorporate some kind of pay structure that rewards good attendance.
Money does have a motivating effect on people strange to say!
Then there’s the two types of sick that firms really shouldn’t dream of stamping on…
(1) Life Threatening Illness.
No bad backs, coughs & sneezes here. We’re talking tumours, cancers, amputated limbs (risk of thrombosis afterwoulds), and the like.
There are still plenty of firms who’ll seek to dismiss “for too much sick absence” this kind of employee. 6 figures later, and through the courts, they’re typically made to feel sorry. It goes on though, more because no suit ever loses money or gets prosecuted for treating staff in this manner.
(2) Accident on duty, especially one that’s the fault of a third party who’s NOT the same or lower rank than you.
Firms like to try and get rid of such employees by the backdoor. Once again, you litigate not because you are trying anything on, but because THE FIRM are trying it on with you! It is possible to win quite a large settlement should the firm decide that it’s not going to pay you full sick pay following an accident on duty. If they’d paid this sick pay during the employee’s R&R period, there wouldn’t have been much to pay out compensation for, but no suit loses money for making the wrong play - so they’ll always make the wrong play!
All in all, FULL sick pay for deserving cases would deflect a lot of later legal actions against the firm. The system is supposed to get rid of “Went sick to watch the world cup” types, but ends up penalising the seriously Ill instead.
Interesting thread. It does appear that firms have got rid of sick pay over the past few years for new starters - the old boys usually get to keep it (plus more holiday and whatever other benefits they had). Trouble is, it means that someone who is “a bit off” with, say, a bit of flu, will come into work to avoid going without pay (lets face it in this day and age one day without pay can be a serious issue) and so infects half of the rest of the workforce - meaning that in the long run MORE time is lost due to illness than if they had just paid the original sickie to have the day at home.
A much fairer system would be companies pay sick pay (to keep as many people as possible healthy) and then when matie has had like 15 days off in a year or something they start investigating. The current system is basically a “guilty until proven innocent” situation.
the benefits system ■■■■■, docs were told when the tories came in to cut down on issuing sick notes,however this as had a knock on effect in the docs surgery as doc time for each person I think is now 7 mins, those who are trying to get sick notes are now having 2 or 3 appointments a week as it used to be 1… docs are also under pressure by the patient that its easier for them to fill issue a sick note, 7 mins is not enough time for an examination and subsequent treatment…
if your not feeling well then i guess its your decision to drive or not, employer puts pressure on you to drive but if you have an accident because your ill then employer will blame you… and if a serious accident and it comes to light you are ill and should,nt be at work,i,m not sure where this will leave you?
Welcome to commie Chinese sweatshop Britain.
