Macmillan Cancer Support and the Citizens Advice Bureau have criticised procedures that compel terminally ill cancer patients, and those undergoing chemotherapy, to attend return to work interviews.

Back to Work Interviews for Terminally Ill Employees Criticised suggests individuals are being threatened with benefit cuts if they do not attend these meetings or have medical examinations.

But, my recent experience suggests it is not just government agencies that get this wrong.

The first case involves an organisation with a very generous sick pay scheme – three months’ full pay and three months’ half pay and then an insurance-backed long-term incapacity payment scheme. The insurance scheme pays half salary on top of the state’s incapacity payments for as long as the individual lives, or until they can return to work.

Unfortunately, the insurance company’s cavalier requests for information and medical assessments suggest it is not just the Department for Work and Pensions or Job Centre Plus who can be insensitive.

Thanks in this case to a dedicated and caring HR manager acting as a go-between between the employee and the insurance company,  the worst excesses of this pressure were deflected. But, I suspect such diligence may not be evident – feasible even – in many HR departments. And the consequences may be traumatic for very vulnerable people.

Of course, such long-term insurance based schemes are expensive for companies and will come under increasing pressure where employers need to cut costs. However, employers can still do a lot to make things easier for terminally ill staff.

Another client did not have long-term sickness cover, but had a provision in their sick pay scheme to allow sickness cover to continue in the event of a life limiting illness.  Fortunately, they have only had to extend this cover on one occasion, but the goodwill throughout the organisation was momentus.

Dealing with staff with life-limiting conditions is always going to be a highly sensitive issue. Having decent policies and procedures in place in advance of such a situation arising is important. But equally important is good communication between the organisation, the individual and medical advisers.

Tags: absence policy, sickness absence
Posted by Elspeth Watt
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