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The average number of long-term sick days taken by civil servants each year has reached a post-pandemic high, new figures released by the Cabinet Office show.
Since 2015, statistics showing how many days employees have been absent from work per year show that civil servants averaged 3.51 days off due to long-term illness in the year ending March 2023, up from 2.86 days in 2021.
A record 2.8 million people in the United States are currently on long-term sick leave (defined as an absence of four weeks or more). Tackling this issue is a key focus of the government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ plan, announced in November.
The proposals include an additional £240m of investment and a promise to reduce NHS waiting lists in 20 NHS trusts across England, some of the least economically active.
The ministry with the highest number of absenteeism was the Ministry of Justice, where employees were absent from work for an average of 6.9 days due to long-term illness last year.
Revenue and Customs has seen the largest increase in absenteeism among all departments, with the average number of absentee days for staff in 2023 being 4.5 days, up from 3.9 days in 2022 and the highest level since before 2015.
Days lost across all sectors in 2023 totaled 1.934 billion, up from 1.858 billion in 2022 and 1.45 billion in 2021.
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect Labor Union, said several factors were involved in explaining this figure.
He said the “crisis in the NHS, where workers are struggling to access care” was a deciding factor, as well as issues of access to “timely mental health services”.
He pointed out that sickness absence is increasing across the economy and the problem is not just for civil servants.
The 2023 ONS report found that central government workers lost an average of 4.8 days due to illness each year, compared to an average of 5.0 days lost per year in the private sector. These figures cover all sickness absence, not just long-term illness.
“The vast majority of sick workers want to get back to work,” Clancy said. “As a trade union, we can work with employers to resolve issues, if any, that are directly related to work together and provide the appropriate support to get members back to work. I would like to do so.”
Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, whose parliamentary questions led to the publication of the figures, said these figures “reflect the health and care crisis this country is experiencing after years of shameful neglect by the previous Conservative government.” It is a sign of.”
Mr Morgan, the party’s health and social care spokesperson, added: “The new government must recognize that it cannot bring these numbers down and get people back to work without first rescuing the NHS.” .
A government spokesperson said: “These increases are broadly in line with the increases seen in the private sector. The latest data available from the Office for National Statistics shows that morbidity rates in central government are lower than in the private sector. “It has been done,” he said.
“Sick leave is managed by individual departments and there is clear guidance on this. Steps are being taken to ensure that employees who are feeling unwell can return to work as soon as possible.”
