You do not need a medical certificate for the first week you are off work.

For this period use a self certificate which you can download and print HERE

If your employer does not accept this then the following guidance is available >

Our current charge for a private medical certificate is ?14.50

After the first seven days you will require a medical certificate. In order for this to be issued you must make an appointment to see the doctor. The only exception to this is if you have been seen at hospital and we have a letter to confirm this.

We no longer issue certificates to declare fitness to return to work following maternity leave - see the following guidance for more information >

REQUESTS BY EMPLOYERS FOR SICKNESS CERTIFICATION

Employers asking for a doctor's statement for the first seven days of an employee's sickness are referred to the "Statutory Sick Pay Manual for Employers" - National Insurance Contributions Series CA30, Paragraph 28, which states "?you (the employer) cannot ask for a doctor's statement for the first seven days of a spell of sickness".

The purpose of this regulation is to avoid the necessity for employees with minor, self-limiting illness or injury to use surgery appointments for the sole purpose of obtaining a medical certificate. We do not, therefore, issue certificates in these circumstances.

If employers have reason to inquire about a spell of sickness, they are advised to write to the doctor, including written permission from the employee concerned, when a report may be issued. A charge will be made for such a report.

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MATERNITY LEAVE REQUESTS FOR CERTIFICATES TO CONFIRM FITNESS TO RETURN TO WORK

You have asked your doctor for a certificate to declare fitness to return to work after maternity leave. Doctors do not consider that pregnancy and childbirth are a disease and therefore do not consider that you require a certificate that you are fit to return to work after childbirth. If you have poor health following childbirth, your doctor will have explained what your health problem is and will indeed have issued you with a sickness certificate.

Unnecessary requests such as this take up valuable consulting time. Your doctor would be required to levy a charge for issuing such a certificate because it is classed as private work and is not covered by the NHS. Your doctor does not wish to charge for a valueless piece of paper and therefore GPs have decided to no longer issue this certificate.

If your employer causes you difficulty over the lack of availability of this certificate, we would advise that you will have to take the matter up with your representative union as this certificate is no longer obtainable.

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