Employees have three months to return to work under the new Fit for Work (FfW) service or they will be discharged from the programme, the government has announced.
Summary guidance for employers has been published detailing what the new service provides and steps employers should follow to implement it.
It encourages employers to update their sickness absence policies to reflect changes brought in under the service.
The advice element of the Fit for Work service was launched in December, while there will be a phased roll out of the referral service taking place "over a period of months", according to the Department for Work and Pensions.
The FfW has faced delays throughout its introduction, but it intends to help employers support employees return to work who have been, or are expected to be absent from work for at least four weeks.
Employers can now benefit from a tax exemption worth up to £500 per year, per employee, on medical treatments recommended through the FfW service or in-house occupational health services.
The guidance said employees would be contacted within two working days of a referral by their GP or their employer, generally receiving an assessment over the telephone which will be done by an occupational health professional.
Where face-to-face assessments are required, the document said assessments will take place within five working days of the judgement being made.
According to the document, employee consent must be provided at all stages of the assessment process, which it said must be "explicit, informed and freely given".
Steve Herbert head of benefits strategy at Jelf Employee Benefits said: "The document does allow employers an insight into the practicalities of using the service, and also allows organisations to plan how their absence management policies could be altered to reflect inclusion of this option.
"It also provides the reader with clarification on some useful extra information that was not entirely evident before."
Herbert added: "This is one for the employment lawyers to consider, but suggests that the consent issue will need some detailed thought if employers are to use this service for all employees as a standard sickness absence default option."
Additional information of note for employers included:
- ‘Reasonable' travel allowance may be claimed from the service provider when employees are required to travel to an assessment following a referral
- For an employer to make a referral, the employee must be absent for four weeks due to illness, while the GP can refer an employee who is likely to be absent for four weeks
- Employees will be discharged from the service when: they have returned to work (including a phased return), at the point that the FfW service is no longer able to provider further assistance or if a return to work has not been possible after three months.
