Are millions of people actually faking being sick?

Doctor or physician writing diagnosis and giving a medical prescription to male Patient
Over 11 million ‘fit notes’ issued by the NHS last year – Metro explores why (Picture: Getty Images)

The government has launched a sick note crackdown, with plans to tell GPs to stop signing people off work.

Instead, GP surgeries will provide specialist support to patients, such as job coaches or gardening classes.

It marks another attempt to tackle what has been call a ‘sick note culture’ which allows Brits to skip work, while claiming sick pay and sometimes even benefits.

With more than 11 million ‘fit notes’ issued by the NHS last year, Metro evaluates whether people actually are faking illness to skive work.

What is the government claiming?

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Health Secretary Wes Streeting said GPs are ‘rubber-stamping people out of work’.

He said sick leave ‘is bad for patients, bad for the NHS, and bad for the economy’.

Streeting added: ‘The sick society we inherited costs taxpayers eye-watering sums — we simply can’t afford to keep writing people off.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock (15391016aa) Health Secretary WES STREETING, arrives at Downing Street for a weekly Cabinet Meeting. Cabinet Meeting In Downing Street, London, England, United Kingdom - 08 Jul 2025
Wes Streeting wants to crackdown on sick notes (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

‘We’re issuing 11 million fit notes a year, with 93 per cent simply dismissing people as “not fit for work” – that’s not healthcare, that’s a bureaucratic dead end.’

The previous government’s language was even stronger.

In a speech in April 2024, then PM Rishi Sunak said he wanted to end the so called ‘sick note culture’, which he called a ‘tragedy’.

He also warned about the ‘risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life’ in relation to mental health absences.

The new Labour government has announced plans which follow in the footsteps of what Sunak wanted to achieve.

Their scheme, called WorkWell, will have £100,000 injected into it for each region.

It will give GP surgeries a dedicated teams to help people find a job.

Other NHS staff, such as physios and occupational therapists, will also be able to to issue fit notes under the measures being piloted.

What do the latest figures show? 

The numbers sound staggering – an estimated 148.9 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2024.

However put into context, claims of a ‘sick note culture’ as something new are harder to justify.

On average only 4.4 days – not even a full working week – was lost per worker.

Sick absences are also falling sharply from a peak in 2022 during the Covid pandemic – when more people got ill from new Covid variants as lockdowns came to an end.

That year, 188 million work days were lost to sick leave.

It is clear these numbers are substantially higher than the previous decade. Only 5.3 million ‘fit notes’ were handed out in 2015 compared to over 11 million in 2024.

But Office for National Statistics data shows that last years figures were considerably healthier than the 1990s and early 2000s.

The number of working days lost to sick leave hovered around 180 million for around a decade – closer to 2022 levels.

If people are claiming that Brits ‘fake’ being ill to skive off work, then it is worth looking at the official reasons why sick notes were handed out.

Minor illnesses account for just under a third of all sick leave absences.

Another large category was ‘other’, which accounted for 15% of all absences last year.

The ONS say this applies to Covid absences, injuries, accidents, infectious diseases, diabetes and other health issues.

On the rise since the pandemic are musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain and injuries – which were the cause of 15 per cent of all absences.

Mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression are at close to 10 per cent.

Respiratory conditions have more than doubled since before the Covid-19 pandemic and sit at 7.3 percent of sick leaves.

What do experts think about this?

‘The UK isn’t facing a “sick note culture” – it’s facing a health crisis,’ argues Simon Dixon, Head of Policy at the Royal Society for Public Health.

The charity believes that the numbers of people taking days of sick is a sign that Brits are not getting the support they need.

Businessman sitting at his desk in an office cleaning his nose with a napkin and coughing while working on his laptop.
Experts believe there is a wider sickness problem not being addressed (Picture: Getty Images)

Simon Dixon told Metro: ‘The rise in sickness absence reflects a wider crisis in our nation’s health.

‘Many of the most common work-limiting conditions – such as musculoskeletal issues, stress and anxiety – are preventable or manageable with the right support.

‘But that support isn’t reaching enough people

‘Rather than blaming individuals, we need to focus on prevention, early support, and better employment practices.’

The public health charity say employers should be encouraged to do more, including in the crucial area of mental health.

Dixon added: ‘We won’t reduce sickness levels by blaming individuals.  We need to make workplaces part of the solution.

‘The Government should look seriously at how to incentivise employers to invest in the health of their workforce – from training and early intervention to changes in how jobs are designed.’

NHS app
Doctors do not have long enough to assess a patients suitability to work (Credits: PA)

GP Nada Khan agrees that employers often do not accommodate adjustments required to allow someone who is ‘maybe fit’ to come back to work.

But the University of Essex academic also accepts that GPs are reluctant to refuse to sign someone off work.

She said in a May 2024 article: ‘Most GPs will not refuse to sign someone off work, but may negotiate with patients to issue shorter fit notes, or engage patients in setting targets for a return to work.’

However consultations are too short for doctors to get a full understanding of a patient’s job, she adds.

Ultimately she concludes the GPs issuing sick notes should not be the centre of the conversation.

She argues more needs to be done to tackle the ‘root causes of why people are going off sick in the first place’, adding: ‘It is time to reframe the problem in order to build the right solution.’

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