According to a report published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) take-up for the Fit for Work service has been lower than expected,
The Evaluation of the fit for work service pilots – first year report, published on 1 March 2012, found that, by the end of March 2011, 6,726 employees had taken up the service offered by the pilot schemes, which is about 40% of the number expected.
The main reasons for the lower-than-expected take-up were the difficulties in generating the expected level of referrals from GPs and employers, and that the size of the core population of long-term sickness absentees may have been overestimated.
