Request a 'Fit Note' for Work

If you’re sick and miss work for seven days or less, you don’t need to give your employer a note from the doctor. If you’re sick for more than seven days in a row, including weekends and holidays, you need to give your employer a Fit Note (also called a sick note or medical certificate) from a doctor.

Sick Certification Forms

Your employer might ask you to prove that you were sick. You can do this by filling out a form yourself when you come back to work. This is called self-certification.

The form will usually ask for:

• Details about what made you sick
• The date you first got sick
• The date you got better

These dates might include days you don’t usually work, like Saturdays, Sundays, or bank holidays.

Many employers have their own self-certification forms for you to fill out. If your employer doesn’t have one, they might use an SC2 form from HM Revenue & Customs.

Sickness of More Than Seven Days

If you’re sick and miss work for more than seven days, your employer will usually ask for a certificate from your doctor.

When you need to provide this certificate might also depend on your employer’s rules about sick leave. These rules will tell you how many days you can be sick before you need to give a note.

To find out about your employer’s rules:

• Ask your team leader or supervisor, or
• Talk to someone from the human resources (HR) or personnel department

Fit Notes and How to Get One

A Fit Note (also called a medical certificate) must be signed by a clinician.  This note helps the clinician give advice on how you can get back to work. The clinician will decide if you are "fit to work" or "not fit for work." They might say you are fit to work if they think returning to work with some support from your employer could help you recover.

The Fit Note also has space for a clinician to give your employer advice on how to help you get back to work, like allowing you to work part-time or changing your tasks.

If you’re seeing a hospital doctor, they might give you the Fit Note instead of your regular surgery.

If you’ve already seen a clinician about the problem or we have a letter from the hospital about your sickness, you might not need to be seen again. You can fill out a FIT/SICK NOTE REQUEST FORM ONLINE. If your certificate runs out, but you are still sick, you will need to complete the Fit/Sick Note Request form again.

If you haven’t seen a clinician about your illness and we don’t have any information from a medical professional, you’ll need to make a routine appointment to get a Fit Note. Fit Notes can be back-dated so it is not necessary to make an emergency appointment to renew your certificate.