Fit Notes (Sick Notes) Policy and Process
If you are unable to work due to illness, please read the guidelines below to ensure your request is processed correctly. A sick note is legally known as a Fit Note (Statement of Fitness for Work).
1. The First 7 Days of Sickness: Self-Certification
For the first 7 calendar days of any illness (including weekends and bank holidays), you do not need a GP sick note. Legally, you must self-certify your illness to your employer.
- Rule: Our clinical team will only process a sick note request after you have already completed your first 7 days of self-certification.
- What to do: If you have been off work for 7 days or less, do not contact the surgery for a sick note. Instead, complete an official self-certification form to give to your employer.
- Link: You can fill out and download the official UK Government Self-Certification Form (SC2) on GOV.UK.
2. First-time Sick Note Requests (After 7 Days)
If your illness prevents you from working for more than 7 consecutive days, you may request a first-time sick note from the surgery.
- How to apply: Unless a sick note is explicitly discussed and issued to you during a live face-to-face or telephone clinical consultation, all first-time requests must be submitted online via our website practice form.
- Medical Evidence Requirement: We cannot issue a sick note for a medical condition unless we have documented evidence of it within your clinical records. If your illness was diagnosed elsewhere (such as a hospital or private clinic), please ensure we have received the relevant paperwork before applying.
- Backdating: Please bear in mind that our clinical team is extremely reluctant, and may refuse, to backdate sick notes. It is your responsibility to request the note dynamically when your self-certification ends.
Please Note: The ultimate duration of any sick note is strictly at the discretion of the issuing clinician, although we will take into consideration the timeframe you have requested.
3. Sick Note Extension Requests
If your current sick note is ending but you remain unfit to return to work, you can request a continuation.
- When to request: All continuation requests must be submitted online on the exact day your current sick note expires.
- Why? Our medical computer systems do not allow clinicians to future-date certificates. We cannot accept early or advance requests.
4. Processing and Delivery Times
Turnaround Time: Please allow up to 4 working days for our team to process, review, and issue any sick note request.
Delivery Method: To save you an unnecessary trip to the surgery, completed fit notes are typically issued electronically and will be sent directly to your phone or inbox via SMS text or email.
When to Contact Us: To keep our phone lines free for urgent medical care, please do not contact the surgery to chase your request unless the full 4 working days have passed.
If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days
To request a sick note:
- fill out a sick note request form
- contact us online
- using your NHS account (through the NHS website or in the NHS App)
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.
Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.
