Returning to work during illness or injury

About WorkWell

WorkWell is a new advice and support service to help you return to work whilst you’re signed off on Short Term Incapacity Allowance.

It can help you if you’re:

off work, or at risk of being off work, for 4 weeks or longer
at risk of a recurring absence for the same condition

The law has changed to allow you to keep receiving sickness benefit and work at the same time. However, you must have a return-to-work plan approved by WorkWell.

Our team includes employment experts supported by an Occupational Therapist. Our services are optional and confidential.

Payments if you're off work sick (Short Term Incapacity Allowance)

For further information contact the WorkWell team.

How we can support you

We can help you and your employer agree on a return-to-work plan so you can work whilst receiving sickness benefits. A plan can make temporary changes to your hours, duties or work location.

This can help:

manage the effects of your health condition whilst you do some work
build your strength back
get back into your routine
your employer support you
manage your condition if it comes back

Many health conditions benefit from a gradual return instead of moving from total rest to working full-time hours and duties. This may not be possible for all illnesses and injuries.

If you’d like a return-to-work plan we will meet you to understand your needs and what might work well for you. You do not have to accept the plan. You might also just want our advice.

We can help you speak to your employer to see if they can agree to the plan. If your employer does not accept the plan you’ll need to wait for your sickness certificate to run out before you can return to work. We will not share any information with your employer without your permission.

If you and your employer agree to the plan you can return to work and might find that the plan is not helping you. As long as you’re signed off work you can stop working completely again and your sickness benefits will not be affected.

The return-to-work plan can last as long as your Short Term Incapacity Allowance.

Accessing WorkWell

You need to be signed off on Short Term Incapacity Allowance to access our services and your GP must refer you.

We’ll contact you as soon as we receive your GP’s referral.

Support for employers

Our aim is to help you and your employee agree on a return-to-work plan while they’re signed off on Short-Term Incapacity Allowance.

After we speak with the employee we’ll contact the employer in most cases to get more information and understand your needs and flexibility. We’ll then prepare a return-to-work plan that will need to be agreed by both employee and employer.

We can also provide employers with generic guidance and advice on how to support their employees returning to work while they’re recovering from an illness.

With the support of our dedicated Occupational Therapist we can:

arrange visits to workplaces
meet with employers
share best practice to help employers create a supportive workplace environment for staff managing health conditions