Those signed off feeling depressed classed as incapable of work, says Stride

Sunak is due to give a speech on Friday morning in which he will argue too many people are out of work with long-term sickness, in part because doctors risk “over-medicalising” normal worries by diagnosing them as mental health conditions.

Stride told Sky News: “If you go to the GP and say you are feeling a little bit depressed, and you’re signed off, in 94% of occasions, a box is ticked that says you’re not capable of work whatsoever.

Stride has previously come under fire for claiming that doctors over-medicalise conditions that in the past would have been seen as part of the “ups and downs of life”.

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Ministers changed the law last year to allow fit notes to be issued by any doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist in addition to GPs, who have traditionally overseen the system.

No 10 would not clarify on Thursday night whether the government was planning to widen the criteria further to allow non-medical professionals to issue or change fit notes as well.