A FREE NHS Plus Health For Work advice line for small businesses that has been successfully operated as a pilot scheme in Yorkshire since last December has been extended nationally.

Small business employers can directly access free and professional occupational health advice to help with individual employee health problems.

Intervening early can help an employee with a health condition stay at work, or return to work more quickly, so minimising the impact on the business. The effect that employee absenteeism and ill-health has on profitability can often be overlooked in a small business.

NHS Plus calculates that ill-health and sickness absence cost the UK economy more than £100 billion each year, with the worst- performing businesses losing an average of 12 days per year for every employee.

The most common recorded causes of absence are physical problems such as back pain and mental health issues such as stress and depression.

Mental ill-health alone is estimated to cost the equivalent of £1,035 per year for every employee in the UK workforce.

For free and confidential advice, small business employers and managers can phone the advice line on 0800 0 77 88 44.