Contact Us
Sign In
Join us

As part of the government’s Make Work Pay White Paper, a new pilot programme has been launched to help people with health conditions return to work and to easy pressure on GPs.

Fifteen regions across England will trial the WorkWell Primary Care Innovation Fund (more info here). The objective is to move away from automatically issuing ‘not fit for work’ fit notes, and instead connect patients with local support services that can help them stay in or return to work.

This could include:

  • Access to work and health coaches, social prescribers or occupational therapists
  • Upskilling physiotherapists and occupational therapists to issue fit notes
  • Training GP teams to offer more holistic, work-focused advice

The pilot will also expand the ability to issue fit notes beyond GPs, with trained professionals such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists to also able to provide them - the intention is to embed work and health conversations more widely across primary care.

Evidence gathered from the pilot will inform future decisions on how fit note processes and work-related health support can be scaled nationally and to shape longer-term reforms that better integrate employment and health services.

Employers and HR teams can find out more about it and how to participate by following this link.