The number of sick days taken by civil servants in Northern Ireland increased by more than 8% in the year to April, according to new data.
A just-published report by the Northern Ireland Statistics Agency said the devolved nation’s civil servants were absent from work through sickness for an average of 11.7 days in 2015-16, up from 10.8 days the previous year.
The NI Civil Service, which operates separately from its mainland counterpart, had a target of reducing average annual absences 8.5 days. Northern Ireland has around 27,000 civil servants, a workforce that has reduced in size by more than 10% since 2014 through a combination of recruitment freezes and voluntary exit programmes.
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Prison Grade staff had the highest average number of days lost, with 23.8. They also had the highest incidence of long-term absence.
NISA said the total number of lost working days in 2015-16 was 277,855, and estimated the cost of the lost productivity was £32.7m.
Up-to-date comparator figures for the mainland have yet to be released, but then-Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock told MPs last year that the civil service’s absence level for 2014-15 was 7.4 working days.
NISA’s report said that in departmental terms, Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice had the highest level of staff absences with 15.9 days, while the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister had the lowest level, with 7.3.
It said the Department for Social Development, which has strategic responsibility for urban regeneration, community and voluntary sector development, had “made the biggest contribution” to the overall hike in sickness absence, accounting for “almost two-thirds” of the rise.
“Though half of staff had no recorded absence, over one in 10 staff had at least one long-term absence spell lasting an average of nearly three months,” the report said.
“This was the highest incidence of long-term absence in the last five years and accounted for nearly three quarters of all working days lost.”
NISA said that, as with previous years, the main reasons given for absences were anxiety, stress, depression, or other psychiatric illnesses, which accounted for one out of every three days lost.
The report added that staff in post for under two years, around 40% whom would have been on probationary terms and conditions, had a much lower level of sickness absence than staff who had been employed for two years or more.
Bumper Graham, deputy general secretary of public sector union the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, said the rise in absences was a direct consequence of inadequate resourcing given to the Northern Ireland Executive.
“If we were properly-funded then that would ease the pressure and tension on staff, and that would be a win-win for everybody,” he said.