What does an Occupational Health assessment include?

At UKIM, we see an Occupational Health assessment not as a hurdle, but as a bridge.

For employers, navigating long-term absence or sudden health changes must feel like walking through a legal and operational minefield. For employees, there is often an underlying anxiety about how their illness impacts their future – both personally and professionally.

Our role as clinicians is to strip away the guesswork for both sides by providing an independent, objective biopsychosocial assessment. We protect the employee's medical privacy while giving businesses the exact, actionable blueprints they need to safely support their staff. Ultimately, early intervention doesn't just reduce the annual cost toll of workplace ill health; it supports a workplace culture rooted in safety, clarity, and mutual respect.

If you are unsure whether a referral is the right next step for your team, we are always here to help you figure it out.

An Occupational Health assessment is a confidential, independent medical evaluation carried out by a qualified clinician.

Its purpose is to understand how an employee's physical or mental health affects their ability to do their job - and to give you, as an employer, clear, work-focused advice on what to do next.

The OH assessment will help you find out whether an employee is fit for work, whether any adjustments would help, and what a realistic return-to-work timeline looks like. All the medical detail stays with the clinician -you receive is a practical report you can act on.

The assessment typically covers: a confidential discussion about the employee's health and symptoms, a review of their role and how it's affected by their condition, a functional evaluation of what they can do safely, and a written report for you outlining their fitness for work and any recommended adjustments.

Most assessments take between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on how complex the case is.

When should you refer an employee for an Occupational Health assessment?

Most employers refer when something's already going wrong: an employee has been off for several weeks, they're back but not coping, or there's a difficult conversation ahead and you need clinical backing for the decisions you're about to make.

Common referral situations include:

• Long-term or repeated sickness absence
• A health condition affecting how someone performs or attends
• Planning a return to work after illness or injury
• Managing a capability case where health is a factor
• Pre-employment screening for a role with specific physical or psychological demands

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, you have a legal duty to protect your employees' health and safety. And under the Equality Act 2010, if an employee's condition might constitute a disability, you're required to consider reasonable adjustments. An occupational health assessment gives you the clinical evidence to make those decisions properly and to show you've done so.

The HSE estimates that work-related ill health costs the UK economy around £21.6 billion a year. For individual businesses, the more immediate concerns are the ongoing cost of sick pay, lost productivity, and the disruption of having someone absent for months - all issues that could have been resolved earlier.

How do you refer an employee for an Occupational Health assessment?

The referral process is straightforward. When you contact us, we'll ask you to provide a referral form that covers:

• The reason for the referral and a summary of the employee's condition or absence
• How the health issue is affecting their work
• Any adjustments you've already tried, and how they've worked
• Any specific questions you want the clinician to address
• Details of what alternative duties or working arrangements you could offer

Before the assessment takes place, the employee will be asked to give their consent. They need to agree both to attending the assessment and to the report being released to you. Our clinician retains any medical record - you will receive only the functional recommendations, not the underlying medical information.

You'll want to brief your employee before they attend by letting them know what the process involves, why you've made the referral, and that the aim is to support them, not to catch them out. This conversation will make a real difference to how the assessment goes.

If you'd like to talk through a referral before you formally submit one, call us on 0191 512 8220. We're happy to help you work out whether this is the right step.

What happens during an Occupational Health assessment?

In most cases, the assessment doesn't involve a physical examination. It's a structured conversation, either face to face or via telephone or video, between your employee and a qualified Occupational Health professional. That could be an Occupational Health physician, advisor, or specialist clinician, depending on the nature of the case.

Our clinician will have reviewed your referral form before the appointment. During the session, they'll typically ask about:

• The employee's current health condition and any diagnosis they've received

• How long they've been affected and what treatment they're receiving

• How their condition affects them in their specific role

• What aspects of their job are difficult right now and why

• What support or adjustments they think would help

They'll also want to understand the job itself: what it demands physically and mentally, the working environment, and any risks that are relevant to the employee's health. At the end of the session, our clinician will talk the employee through the recommendations they plan to include in the report, and ask them to confirm consent before releasing it to you.

What does the Occupational Health report tell you?

This is where the process becomes useful to you as an employer. Our report is a clear, clinical view of the situation that you can use to make informed HR decisions. A typical Occupational Health report covers:

• Whether the employee is fit for work, fit with adjustments, or currently unfit

• What adjustments are recommended, and whether they're temporary or long-term

• A realistic timeframe for recovery or a phased return to work

• Whether the condition is likely to be covered by the Equality Act 2010 as a disability

• Whether further input from the employee's GP or a specialist would help

This assessment is something you can share with your HR team and, where relevant, use in formal processes.

An Occupational Health report won't make the decisions for you, but it means you're making them based on independent clinical evidence rather than guesswork or assumption. This is vital if you later need to show an employment tribunal that you acted fairly.

Can an employee refuse an Occupational Health assessment?

Yes. You can't force an employee to attend - it must be voluntary. If an employee refuses, you can still make HR decisions, but you'll be doing so without clinical evidence of their condition or functional capacity. That limits your ability to identify adjustments that might help, and it limits your ability to demonstrate you've met your legal duty to consider those adjustments.

If an employee refuses to attend, you’ll need to have a direct conversation with them. Most employees who push back are worried about what the assessment will uncover or how you'll use the report. Explaining the process, the confidentiality arrangements, and the purpose of the referral will often resolve those concerns.

If an employee refuses and absence or capability proceedings follow, document that the referral was offered, the reason they gave for the refusal, and the steps you took to address it. Having that record is really important.

The different types of Occupational Health assessment

Not all referrals are for the same thing. Here's how the main types differ:

Management referral assessments are the most common. A manager may have concerns about an employee's health, absence, or ability to do their job safely, and wants to refer them for an independent clinical view. This is the referral type most employers need when dealing with an absence issue.

Fitness-for-work assessments focus on whether an employee can carry out their specific role safely and effectively. They're often used where the role involves physical demands or safety-critical work.

Return-to-work assessments support employees coming back after illness or injury. Our clinician helps plan a phased return that's safe and sustainable, so you're less likely to see a recurrence of the original reason for absence.

Pre-employment (pre-placement) assessments check whether a candidate is fit for a role before they start. Under the Equality Act 2010, these have specific rules about when you're allowed to ask health-related questions.

Specialist assessments address specific conditions or risks: mental health, musculoskeletal problems, workplace ergonomics. If a standard assessment raises something that needs more clinical depth, a specialist referral may follow.

How an Occupational Health assessment helps to reduce absence

The HSE's most recent data puts 1.7 million working people in the UK as suffering from work-related ill health in a single year. That includes 776,000 cases of stress, depression or anxiety, and 543,000 musculoskeletal conditions.

Early referral means you can identify what's going on and put something practical in place, before an absence that might have lasted four weeks becomes one that lasts four months. It also means the employee gets appropriate support rather than falling through the gap between their GP (who's managing their health) and their employer (who's managing their job).

The adjustment you agree to after an OH assessment doesn't have to be dramatic - for instance, it can simply mean adjusted hours during a recovery period, a temporary change in duties, or a workstation review. These are small, specific changes that are time-limited and have a review period built in for a later date. This kind of structured support tends to produce faster, more sustainable returns to work than simply waiting to see what happens.

Why choose UKIM for Occupational Health assessments?

We work with employers across the UK to provide fast, clear Occupational Health advice that's useful in practice.

That means reports that answer the specific questions you asked in your referral that match the role of the employee, and not boilerplate recommendations. It means clinical professionals with real Occupational Health experience, not generalists drafted in. And it means we’re available to talk through a case before you refer, not just after.

If you need UK-wide cover, we can provide it. If you need a fast turnaround because a capability process is running, we understand what's required and can respond accordingly.

Call us on 0191 512 8220 or use the form below to get started.

Our quick FAQ to Occupational Health assessments

How long does an Occupational Health assessment take? Most appointments run between 30 and 60 minutes. Complex cases with multiple health factors may take a little longer.

Who carries out the assessment? A qualified Occupational Health professional: typically, an Occupational Health physician, advisor, or specialist clinician depending on the nature of the referral.

Is the assessment confidential? Yes. Your employee's medical information stays with the clinician. You'll receive a functional report covering fitness for work, recommended adjustments, and return-to-work guidance. No clinical detail is shared with you.

What questions will the clinician ask? The clinician will ask about your employee's current health, how it affects their ability to do their job, what treatment they're receiving, and what they think would help them return to or stay at work. The specific questions vary depending on the referral reason and role.

Can Occupational Health override a GP? No. An occupational health clinician provides independent, work-focused advice that complements what a GP does. GPs manage medical treatment. We advise on what someone can do at work given their condition.

What happens after the assessment? You'll receive a written report covering fitness for work, any recommended adjustments, and guidance on next steps. Once you have it, you're in a much better position to have a structured conversation with the employee about what happens next and to make decisions that are both fair and defensible.

Does Occupational Health deal with mental health as well as physical conditions? Yes. A significant proportion of the referrals we handle involve stress, anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions.