Sick days taken in the civil service have fallen after reaching a 12-year high, according to new data.
Figures published by the Cabinet Office on Thursday reveal that the average number of working days lost per full-time-equivalent staff member in 2023-24 was 7.8, down from 8.1 in the previous year.
The 2022-23 figure had been the highest rate of sickness in the civil service since the first year of the coalition government.
The fall in sickness absence comes alongside a drop in the impact of Covid on sickness in the civil service.
Covid-related short-term sick days in 2023-24 represented 6.7% of short-term absence compared to 20.6% in 2022-23. For long-term sickness, Covid-19 represented 0.9% of absences in 2023-24 compared to 2.6% the year before.
And the 2024 People Survey results, also published yesterday, show that the proportion of civil servants who described themselves as having Long Covid has dropped from 9.8% to 8.6%.
MoJ no longer the department with the highest number of sick days
The Scottish Government had the highest number of average working days lost per staff year in 2023-24 (10.3), with the Ministry of Justice coming in second with 9.9.
The MoJ had been top for sick days for the last two year with 11.1 working days lost per year in 2022-23 and 12.1 in 2021-22.
At the other end of the scale, the Scotland Office had the lowest proportion of average working days lost per staff member in 2023-24, with 1.6.
There were significant drops in sickness rates at Welsh education and training inspectorate Estyn and the National Crime Agency. Estyn’s average days lost went down from 9.7 days to 6.2 (having soared by 80% the year before) while the NCA’s dropped from 7.3 days to 4.8.
Average sick days at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on the other hand, went up from 4.7 to 7.2.
The statistics release, by the Cabinet Office, points out that major trends in overall civil service absence levels are often due to changes in the five largest departments (Department for Work and Pensions, MoJ, HM Revenue and Customs, Ministry of Defence and Home Office). These departments account for 67% of working days in the civil service and 72% of sickness absence taken.
Regionally, Northern Ireland had the highest number of average days lost due to sickness – 9.6 per staff year, a 0.1 days increase on 2022-23. Scotland had the second-highest proportion of sick days – with an average of 9.4, the same as in 2022-23.
Civil servants based in London had the lowest level of sickness absence: an average of 6 days per staff year, down from 6.2 the previous year.
The figures also show that long-term sickness continues to be a growing proportion of sickness absence, with 4.6 days per staff year lost to long term sickness and 3.2 to short-term sickness in 2023-24, compared to 4.4 and 3.8 respectively in the previous year.
Mental ill health was the biggest single cause of long-term sickness absence, accounting for 47% of days lost – up from 45% in 2022-23 – followed by musculoskeletal system disorders (14%).
Respiratory-system illnesses such as colds and flu – not including Covid – were the biggest cause of short-term sickness absence, responsible for 24% of days lost (up from 22% the previous year), followed by mental health: 17%.
On average, female officials took more sick days than men: 8.7 days compared with 6.9, with both figures a small decrease on the previous year.
Fifty-two per cent of civil servants did not take any sick days in 2022-23, up from 49% the previous year.