New DWP fit note rules for PIP claimants are 'harmful and deeply damaging'

The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a fresh call for evidence over fit note reform to combat a supposed “sick note culture”. The DWP is planning a crackdown on benefits, including disability benefits like PIP, in a bid to get claimants back working.

The ‘fit note’ was introduced in 2010 and can be issued following a health and work assessment by the healthcare professional, responsible for someone’s who may be responsible for your health care plan. Itprovides advice to you and any employer about the impact of your health condition, where that may have an effect on your fitness for work.

It can also enable someone to access Statutory Sick Pay or evidence eligibility for other health-related benefits. The DWP consultation “is part of a wider suite of activity to reform the fit note and will act as a prelude to a full consultation on specific policy proposals which will be launched later this year", it says.

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The DWP says: “Your healthcare professional will assess your fitness for work by considering how your health condition affects what you can do at work (for example your stamina and concentration). They will decide whether you are fit for work, ‘may be fit for work’ or are ‘not fit for work.”

Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind said: “We are deeply disappointed that the prime minister’s speech continues a trend in recent rhetoric which conjures up the image of a ‘mental health culture’ that has ‘gone too far’.

“This is harmful, inaccurate and contrary to the reality for people up and down the country. The truth is that mental health services are at breaking point following years of underinvestment, with many people getting increasingly unwell while they wait to receive support.”

She added: “To imply that it is easy both to be signed off work and then to access benefits is deeply damaging. It is insulting to the 1.9 million people on a waiting list to get mental health support, and to the GPs whose expert judgment is being called into question.”