Under the sick leave legislation, the employee must be certified by a medical practitioner as unable to work to qualify for statutory sick pay. However some shopkeepers have asked what to do to ensure that all sick certs presented to them are genuine.

An employer could insist that they receive an original cert which could mean that they do not accept a copy and an online would not be an original.

The other option is that they come to an agreement with a specific on line service and all certs are sent from that service only and employees are advised they can only use that service. This could reduce the element of forgeries.