Sick (Fit) Notes

Request a sick (fit) note

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

If you’re off work sick for more than 7 days your employer will normally ask for a fit note (or statement of fitness for work) from your GP. 

Sick notes can be requested online. We will ask you to provide:

• Information about your sickness
• Start date
• Required length of sick note
• How you would like to receive the sick note 

If you have a smartphone, sick notes can now be text straight to your mobile number. Sick notes can be back-dated. 

Request a sick note online

Please allow up to 5 full working days for a sick note to be issued by Carlisle Healthcare

Emergency or urgent appointments will not be used to request sick 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.

Find out more about sick notes

How to count sick days

When you work out the number of days that you’ve been sick, you need to count all the days in a row you’ve been sick, including days you don’t normally work such as weekends and bank holidays.

Sick note following hospital admission 

If you are off work due to a Hospital admission, a sick note can be issued by the hospital to cover the period of time you were in the hospital. Once discharged, your GP can issue a sick note, based on your hospital discharge letter.