Pre-employment health questionnaire

Why do we ask prospective employees to complete a pre-employment health assessment questionnaire?

The pre-employment health assessment questionnaire collects specific job-related information about a post, and relevant health information about a prospective new employee (or existing employee changing role). This information is then assessed by the Occupational Health advisers who can:

(i) assess the candidate's medical capability to do the job for which they have applied: this will include assessing whether there are any statutory reasons why an individual may not carry out particular work: for example, health and safety regulations would mean that a candidate with monocular vision would be deemed unfit to work with lasers, or that a candidate with epilepsy would not be allowed to undertake a post involving driving;

(ii) determine whether any reasonable adjustments or auxiliary aids may be required to accommodate any disability or impairment which a candidate has declared: adjustments may include physical adaptations, or adjustments to working arrangements such as hours. For this reason the form asks departments to attach a job description and also indicate whether the post is full or part-time, so that UOHS staff have sufficient information to make their assessment; and

(iii) ensure that none of the duties of the job will adversely affect any pre-existing health conditions the candidate has declared.

Who should complete a pre-employment health assessment questionnaire?

In order to fulfil all the requirements above, no-one should be allowed to commence a new employment until they have completed a pre-employment health assessment questionnaire and an Occupational Health adviser has confirmed that they are fit for the proposed employment. This includes both:

  1. employees who are new to the University, and
  2. existing employees who are appointment to new posts within the University.

At what stage in the recruitment process should the pre-employment health assessment questionnaire be completed?

Pre-employment health assessment questionnaires should only be sent to candidates once a conditional job offer has been made (the questionnaire can be included with the job offer). Since the launch of the Equality Act 2010, employers may no longer use any information about a candidate's health, whether gained from pre-employment health questionnaires, or questioning at interview, to inform their selection decisions, unless there is a Genuine Occupational Reason (GOR) for this.

GOR's must be very clearly objectively justifiable. For example a Goods Inwards role which involved heavy lifting and transporting of heavy or awkward packages around a large building where this was a major component of the job (and it was not possible to adapt the duties), might be said to have a GOR of being sufficiently fit and active to undertake these duties. However, wherever possible you should avoid subjective words such as "fit" which may be interpreted differently by different individuals, and instead define the requirements of the post, for example "able to lift heavy boxes, and push a trolley around a building on three floors", so that candidates can assess whether they would be able to meet this criterion.

How does the process work?

  1. When a preferred candidate has been identified they should be offered the post, subject to the condition of a satisfactory medical health assessment (and any other relevant conditions such as entitlement to work in the UK and/or CRB disclosures).

  2. The department should download the questionnaire and complete section 2 which asks for details of the post.

  3. The form, together with a job description, should then be sent to the candidate, together with an A5 envelope, addressed to the department's recruitment co-ordinator, and with Core vacancy ID clearly marked on the outside of the envelope.

  4. Candidates should complete section 4 with information about their health and the declaration on section 5, and return the form to the department who can then log that the form has been returned.

  5. The form should be forwarded without delay to UOHS who will complete the assessment, normally within two days of receipt.

  6. The UOHS adviser will return a copy of sections 2 and 3 of the form to the department, confirming whether or not the individual is medically fit for the proposed employment. The complete form will be kept, confidentially, by UOHS who will include the form in the individual's UOHS record.

  7. Where further information is required by UOHS in order that the assessment can be completed there may be a delay in responding to departments.

  8. Log confirmation that the health check has beeen requested and when confirmation of completion has been received. Refer to REC03 Manage Online Applications (542kb) (section 3).

Can we allow an employee to commence a new appointment without UOHS confirmation of medical fitness?

A candidate should not be allowed to commence employment until UOHS have confirmed whether s/he is medically fit for the proposed employment, or identified the reasonable adjustments that should be put in place before employment commences. The reason for this is that:

  1. there may be statutory/health and safety reasons why the individual may not be allowed take up the employment; and

  2. once the individual has declared a disability to the University, through the Occupational Health form, the University has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to allow them to take up the post. The adjustments should normally be agreed and in place BEFORE the employment commences.

Where can I get the questionnaire from?

You can download a PDF of the form from Documents. This form is clearly marked as 'for use from 1 October 2010. Departments are asked to destroy any previous versions of the questionnaire, which do not have this date on the cover page. After 31 October 2010 UOHS will no longer accept questionnaires they receive in the old format.

Documents