Actually, in my previous employment, we were not allowed to use self cert either (well we could but we would not get paid) so we had to get a private doctors note (�10, however this may vary) and the employer paid this money back. However, I only got paid for the first 10 days of sickness a year, even if I produced a doctors note. For example, a lady I worked with got cancer, she was signed off by the doctor for 3 months at a time, but she only got full pay for the first 10 days then SSP (is it worth it?) for the remainder.