Launched at the end of 2014 the government’s ‘Fit for Work’ initiative aimed at tackling absenteeism will be significantly downgraded from mid-December. The program had allowed employers to refer employees who were off work for four weeks or more for a free assessment where experts could support them in their return to work. However ‘Fit for Work’ has been beset by a lack of company awareness and take-up and so the government has decided to restrict the measure to just internet and telephone based advice.
Without actually providing any precise data, the Departments of Health and Employment have nonetheless admitted that only a very few have taken up the ‘Fit for Work’ program, which the government optimistically launched in 2017 (c.f. article No. 8808). Thus on 30 November as part of a fresh strategy to get 1 million disabled into employment over the next ten years, the government discreetly revealed that it would be scrapping ‘Fit for Work’, a program whereby employers could refer employees who
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