What Is a Management Referral?
A GP treats the patient. An OH assessment looks at the relationship between a person’s health and their ability to fulfil a specific employment contract. Think of it as a clinical evaluation that answers three critical questions:
Can this person do the job described in their contract? How long is their absence likely to last? And are you legally required to make adjustments under the Equality Act 2010?
The referral process starts with you. You submit a referral form setting out the job demands, the health concern, and the specific questions you need answered. The more precise your questions, the more useful the report. A referral that asks “is the employee medically capable of sustaining a 40-hour week involving heavy lifting?” will produce far more actionable output than one that simply asks “are they fit?”
Our clinicians are trained to interpret the employment context, not just the medical picture. They understand the difference between a desk-based analyst role and a construction site operative, and they frame their advice around the functional requirements of the specific job. That’s the distinction between occupational health and general practice.
Why Employers Use This Service
GP fit notes rarely give you what you need to make a confident HR decision. They’re written for the patient, not the employer. A management referral bridges that gap.
Manage your legal position: Get clear guidance on Equality Act obligations before making capability or dismissal decisions. The Equality Act 2010 places specific duties on employers to consider reasonable adjustments. Making a capability decision without understanding whether a condition meets the legal definition of disability, or without exploring adjustments, exposes you to tribunal claims that are expensive and reputationally damaging.
Cut absence costs: Early referral significantly improves return-to-work outcomes. Every week of delay adds cost. Not just in sick pay, but in temporary cover, team disruption, and the compounding difficulty of reintegrating someone after an extended period away. Our data shows that employees referred within the first four weeks of absence return to work measurably faster than those referred later.
Validate what you’re being told: An independent clinical review gives you the evidence to support HR proceedings or challenge questionable absence patterns. When an employee’s own GP supports continued absence but the clinical picture does not match, an OH assessment provides the objective, employer-focused perspective that HR needs to act.
Protect your employment decisions: Whether you’re considering a phased return, a role adjustment, redeployment, or in serious cases, termination on capability grounds, the management referral report provides the medical evidence that demonstrates you sought expert advice and followed a fair process.
One-Off Referrals Welcome
You do not need an OH contract to use this service. If you’ve got one employee causing you concern and you need an independent clinical view, we can help. Many of our long-term clients started with a single management referral. They came back because the report was clear, the turnaround was fast, and the advice was commercially useful.
No minimum commitment: Pay for what you need. One referral, one report. No retainer, no subscription, no lock-in.
Same clinical standard: Whether you’re sending us one referral or a hundred, every case is assessed by a qualified OH clinician working to SEQOHS governance standards. You get the same quality report as our contracted clients.
Fast turnaround: Secure video consultations can typically be arranged within three to five working days. Reports are returned promptly, written in plain English with clear, actionable recommendations.
Simple process: Complete our online referral form, we’ll call you to discuss the case, and the assessment is booked. No procurement hoops, no onboarding delay.
When a Single Referral Makes Sense
You’re a small or mid-sized employer without an existing OH contract, and you need expert guidance on a complex absence, a capability question, or Equality Act obligations. You shouldn’t have to sign a twelve-month contract to get a competent clinical opinion on one employee.
Your current OH provider is too slow. Waiting weeks for a report is not acceptable when a tribunal clock is ticking or an employee’s absence is escalating. We consistently deliver faster turnaround because our clinicians are directly employed, not sourced from a freelance network.
You’re facing a one-off situation. A difficult case that your internal HR team hasn’t encountered before: perhaps a long-term condition, a mental health disclosure, or a contested fitness-for-work decision. These situations require specialist clinical input, and getting the first report right can save months of procedural difficulty.
You want to test our quality before committing. Many organisations use a one-off referral as a trial before moving to a retained service. We’re confident enough in the quality of our reports to let the work speak for itself.
How It Works
Step 1: You complete a referral form with specific, role-related questions. The quality of the referral directly affects the quality of the report.
Step 2: The employee is informed transparently, in line with GDPR requirements and GMC guidance on consent.
Step 3: A qualified clinician assesses the employee against their specific job demands. This is not treatment. It’s an evaluation of contractual capability.
Step 4: You receive a clear, actionable report covering fitness status, realistic return timescales, Equality Act considerations, and any recommended adjustments. The report is written for HR decision-makers, not for a medical audience
What Makes Our Reports Different
The value of a management referral lives or dies in the quality of the report. A vague, non-committal document that tells you nothing you didn’t already know is a waste of money. Our reports are structured around the specific questions you raised in the referral, and they provide direct, clinically justified answers.
Each report addresses fitness for the specific role. Not fitness in the abstract. It gives a realistic prognosis for return, based on the clinical evidence rather than the employee’s own expectation or the GP’s generic timeframe. It explicitly addresses Equality Act considerations, including whether the condition is likely to meet the definition of disability and what reasonable adjustments should be considered. And it provides practical recommendations that translate into management actions.
Our clinicians are trained to write for an HR audience. They avoid unnecessary medical jargon. They distinguish between opinion, clinical evidence, and legal obligation. They give you the detail you need to act, without overloading you with information that is not relevant to your management decision.
Every referral, every assessment, and every report is managed within our ISO 27001-certified information security framework. Employee health data is sensitive, and buyers increasingly expect their OH provider to demonstrate independently audited data security. Not just a privacy policy, but a certified management system. Our Cyber Essentials certification provides additional assurance against external cyber threats.
What This Means for Your Business
A single management referral costs a fraction of the expenses it prevents. Consider the alternative: you make a capability decision without independent medical evidence. The employee claims disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Your legal team spends six months preparing a defence. The tribunal awards compensation. Total cost: £40,000 to £80,000 in legal fees, management time, and settlement, plus the reputational damage.
A management referral provides the medical evidence that demonstrates you sought expert advice, considered reasonable adjustments, and followed a fair process. It costs hundreds, not tens of thousands. The return on that investment is not theoretical. It is the difference between a defensible decision and an indefensible one.
On the absence side, early referral shortens absence duration measurably. Every additional week of delay before clinical intervention adds cost in sick pay, temporary cover, and team disruption. Our data shows that employees referred within the first four weeks of absence return to sustained attendance significantly faster than those referred later.
Every week you delay referring a complex absence case, the likelihood of a sustained return to work diminishes and the cost of the absence increases. Early referral consistently produces faster return-to-work outcomes. Waiting for the situation to resolve itself is not a strategy, it’s a cost multiplier.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Absolutely. Many of our long-term partnerships started with a single referral. Once you’ve seen the quality of the report and the speed of the service, we can discuss a retained arrangement that gives you priority access and volume pricing. We’ve been delivering management referrals for UK employers since 1999, and our 96% client retention rate speaks for itself.
No. We accept one-off referrals from any UK employer. You get the same SEQOHS-standard clinical assessment and report regardless of whether you’re a contracted client.
