The Government should set up an Independent Assessment Service (IAS) to sign people sick off work, the Sickness Absence review has concluded.
The service would provide an in-depth assessment of an individual's physical and/or mental function. It would also look at return to work.
The service would be accessed after around four weeks off sick.
The reasoning for the service is that GPs do not have strong incentives to consider state and employer costs when signing people off sick, yet employers use GPs for evidence of the validity of claims for sick pay and the State as evidence for benefit claims.
The report said: "Employers pay £9bn a year in sick pay and associated costs, plus the indirect costs of managing business while people are off sick. Currently, the majority of people seeking a medical certificate (fit note) are signed off as completely unfit.
"Unless this is addressed, employers cannot make adjustments to help people whose illness is compatible with a return to work."
Dame Carol Black and David Frost, the reports authors, estimate employers would save approximately £100 million a year in sick pay, with an estimated increase in economic output of around £150 million a year.
The State would also make savings from reduced flows onto health-related benefits and gain from the tax revenue from increased economic output.
The report notes some long-term health conditions are incompatible with an individual's current job, and that after 20 weeks of sickness absence, the vast majority of individuals fall onto benefits at a cost of £8,500 a year.
The authors said: "We recommend that the State should offer a free job-brokering service for anyone with a sickness absence period of 20 weeks or more.
"We estimate that the State could save up to £300 million a year by introducing this service. The increase in economic output could be up to £800 million a year."
