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Sick (fit) notes

If you’ve been off sick for 7 days or less

If you’re off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. Instead, they can ask you to confirm that you’ve been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. We call this self-certification.

Some employers insist on a Doctor’s note regardless. A Doctors note under these circumstances may involve a charge.

Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.

If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days

To request a sick note:

Please allow up to 7 working days for Sicknote requests. The GP receives multiple (100s) of requests for letters, prescriptions, certificates and test results daily. Therefore it is not always possible to request these as urgent. You will need to advise your employer you have submitted your request and are awaiting GP review. We are unable to pre-date sicknote requests, so please do not submit until your current certificate expires.

Page published: 9 May 2023
Last updated: 13 July 2026