Short term certificates certifying a period of absence of a week or less are not issued by the doctors. Where an employer or other authority requires such a certificate, a copy of this statement should be shown to him/her instead.

National Insurance Medical Certificates are NOT needed for the first seven successive calendar days of each claim for incapacity benefit. However, you should complete a 'self-certification' form, available from your employer or the Department of Social Security, to provide evidence of your inability to work. The forms are SC1 for the unemployed or self-employed, which is obtainable from and sent back to the Benefits Agency, and SC2 for those in employment, to pass to your employer.

Employers are obliged to accept sight of the SSP Claim Form as adequate evidence of incapacity. Your employer may ask you for a doctor's certificate (sick note) during the first seven days of your inability to work. As this is not legally necessary, you may be charged a fee for us providing you with this service. The present cost is £13.00
 
Certificates cannot be issued in respect of previous illness when a doctor was not in attendance, nor can they be backdated.

Patients under the care of the hospital out-patients or casualty department should normally obtain evidence of medical incapacity from the hospital doctor. This also applies to those patients who have been admitted to hospital for an in-patient stay, where responsibility for issuing a sick-note is by the doctor attending the patient in hospital. In such cases the sick note should be issued for an appropriate forward period.

For further information please consult the website www.dwp.gov.uk.