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Civil Service sickness absence, 2023: report

Published 29 February 2024

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Overview

This report presents headline information on sickness absence in the UK Civil Service workforce, including by organisation, grade, region, sex, age and absence reason, for the year ending 31 March 2023.

Key Highlights:

Overall Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year in the Civil Service was 8.1 days in the year ending 31 March 2023, up from 7.9 days in the year ending 31 March 2022.

Of these average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year:

• 4.4 days per staff year were lost to long term sickness, and 3.7 days to short term sickness. Both increased on the previous year from 4.3 and 3.6 respectively.

• Mental Ill-Health was the largest cause of long term sickness absence (45%), followed by Musculoskeletal System Disorders (13%).

• Respiratory System illnesses were the largest cause of short term absence (22%) followed by COVID-19 (21%).

• London had the lowest level of sickness absence (6.2 days), compared to Northern Ireland and Scotland which had the highest levels of sickness absence (9.5 and 9.4 days respectively).

• Women took 8.9 days on average compared to 7.2 days for men.

• Sickness absence tends to increase with age, with those over 60 years taking 10.8 days compared to 6.6 days for those aged 16-29 years.

• Just under half (49%) of civil servants took no sickness absence in the year to 31 March 2023, this is 7 percentage points higher than a decade earlier (42% took no absence in 2013). (see Table 1b)

• Absence rates differ by organisation, ranging from 3.1 days at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to 11.1 days at the Ministry of Justice.

Figure 1.1: Average Working Days Lost per staff year, 2013 to 2023 (see Table 1a)

By organisation

Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year by organisation ranges from 3.1 days at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to 11.1 days at the Ministry of Justice. Sickness absence decreased in fifteen of the organisations between 2022 and 2023, including among others:

• Ministry of Justice; AWDL decreased to 11.1 days in the year ending 31 March 2023 from 12.1 in the year ending 31 March 2022.

• Home Office; AWDL decreased to 7.3 days in the year ending 31 March 2023 from 8.0 in the year ending 31 March 2022.

• Department for Culture, Media and Sport; AWDL decreased to 3.1 days in the year ending 31 March 2023 from 3.5 in the year ending 31 March 2022.

Organisational breakdowns of overall sickness absence and the leading cause of absence, Mental Ill-Health, can be found in data Tables 3a and 3b respectively.

Figure 3.1: Average Working Days Lost per staff year by main organisations in 2022 and 2023 (see Table 3a)

Statistical Note

Major trends in overall Civil Service absence levels are often due to changes in the five largest departments (DWP, MoJ, HMRC, MoD, HO). These departments account for 68% of working days in the Civil Service and 74% of sickness absence taken.

The data presented in all the charts in this report can be found in the accompanying data tables file published alongside this report.

Note: Shorthand is used in Figure 3.1, [c] = confidential and suppressed due to small numbers and [u] = data is omitted for quality reasons

By grade

Sickness absence levels decrease with seniority, with AWDL per staff year at the most junior grades (AA/AO) at 11.8 days compared to SCS levels standing at 2.3 days.

The percentage of days lost to long term sickness absence is broadly similar across grades (between 50% and 59%). The highest is for SCS at 59%, and the lowest for G6/7 and HEO/SEO at 50% of all days lost to sickness.

The proportion of staff taking no sickness absence increases with grade, and for SCS is 43 percentage points higher than for AA/AO grades.

Figure 4.1: Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by grade, 2023 (see Table 4)

Figure 4.2: Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence during the year by grade, 2023 (see Table 5)

Figure 4.3: Average working days lost per staff year by grade, 2013 to 2023 (see Table 6)

By region

Average working days lost per staff year varies across the regions.

The regions with the highest levels of sickness absence were Northern Ireland (9.5 days) and Scotland (9.4 days).

After overseas (3.9 days ^{[footnote 1]}), the regions with the lowest levels of sickness absence were London (6.2 days) and the South West (6.7 days).

There is also variation in the percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence: after overseas (67%), this ranges from 60% in London to 42% in Scotland.

Figure 5.1: Average working days lost per staff year by region for 2022 and 2023 (see Table 7)

Figure 5.2: Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence by region, 2023 (see Table 8)

By sex

Sickness absence levels for women (8.9 days) were higher than for men (7.2 days).

There was no difference between the long term and short term split of sickness for men and women.

The percentage of staff with no sickness absence was six percentage points higher for men (53%) than for women (47%).

In the year ending 31 March 2023 the number of days of sickness absence increased for both men and for women by 0.1 days respectively, compared to the year ending 31 March 2022.

Sickness absence rates declined during the pandemic for both men and women. Since then, absences have increased. Over the longer term, the average days of absence taken by women has increased by 0.3 days since 2013. During the same period the average sickness absence days taken by men increased by 0.6 days.

Figure 6.1: Average working days lost per staff year by sex, 2013 to 2023 (see Table 9)

Figure 6.2: Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by sex (see Table 10)

Figure 6.3: Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence during the year by sex, 2023 (see Table 11)

By age

Sickness absence tends to increase with age, increasing from 6.6 days for those aged 16-29 to 10.8 days for those aged 60 and over.

The percentage of absence that is long term also increases with age, from 39% in the under thirties to 65% in the over sixties.

There is very little variation between age categories in the percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence, with all figures lying within a two percentage point range.

Figure 7.1: Average working days lost per staff year by age, 2013 to 2023 (see Table 12)

Figure 7.2: Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by age, 2023 (see Table 13)

Figure 7.3: Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence by age, 2023 (see Table 14)

By absence reason

Mental Ill-Health was the leading cause of sickness absence in the year ending 31 March 2023, with an average of 2.5 days lost per staff year. 0.9 days were lost on average to COVID-19.

22.3% of all short term sickness absence was due to Respiratory System illness. 20.6% was due to COVID-19 and 14.1% due to Mental Ill-Health.

Mental Ill-Health and Musculoskeletal System Disorders were the largest causes of long term sickness absence at 45% and 13% respectively. COVID-19 accounted for 3% of long term absences.

Figure 8.1: Short term sickness absence by absence reason, 2023 (see Table 2)

Figure 8.2: Long term sickness absence by absence reason, 2023 (see Table 15)

Figure 8.3: Average working days lost by main sickness absence reason, 2023 (see Table 16)

Methodology

Sickness Absence in the Civil Service is an annual report describing sickness absence across the UK Civil Service workforce in terms of by organisation, grade, region, sex, age and absence reason.

These figures incorporate home Civil Service organisations and staff, including those based in Northern Ireland and overseas. Not included are the Northern Ireland Civil Service, other Crown servants and employees of the wider public sector, for example, employees of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and the National Health Service (NHS). There are a small number of Civil Service organisations not currently covered as part of these statistics. A listing of all Civil Service organisations contained in these statistics and those not currently included is provided.

Sickness absence figures are derived from management information

All data presented in this report are sourced and collated from Departmental Quarterly Sickness Absence Management Information returns to Cabinet Office. The data presented in this report are not Official Statistics.

Notes on measures of sickness absence

These statistics present the headline measure for sickness absence in the Civil Service, Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year. This measure is used because it is the most accurate measure available and accounts for part-time workers and workers that have not worked for the entire year i.e. leavers and new entrants during the reporting period.

Organisations outside the Civil Service mainly report their sickness rates using the Average Working Days Lost per person measure. This measure could under-report the true levels of sickness absence in an organisation as it gives equal weighting in the AWDL calculation to individuals that are part-time or have only worked part of the year and have therefore worked fewer days during the course of the year than full-time staff that have worked the entire year.

Sector comparisons

Caution should be used when comparing data from this report with other sectors of the economy due to differences in measurement definitions. The Office for National Statistics publishes sickness absence statistics including comparisons between different industry sectors and the public sector.

Calculations

Average Working Days Lost per staff year is calculated as follows:

AWDL per staff year =

Working Days Lost during the year at organisation / Total Staff Years at organisation

Where Total Staff Years at organisation =

Total Working Days Available at organisation / Working Days available for 1 full-time employee employed for the entire year

For consistency purposes, working days available over a year for a typical full-time employee is assumed to be 225 working days.

Collection time periods

All data is annual in order to remove seasonality. However, organisations report their annual data on a quarterly basis. For this report we focus on data collected ending in March every year. So the latest data for 2023 covers the time period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Data for the preceding year (2022) covers the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and so forth. Unless otherwise stated, all the data reported in the report refer to time periods ending 31 March 20xx.

Definitions

Short-Term sickness absence: All absences less than or equal to 20 working days or 28 calendar days.

Long Term sickness absence: All absences greater than or equal to 21 working days or 29 calendar days.

Request for feedback

If you would like to provide feedback on any aspect of this publication, please contact us at:

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Civil Service Coverage

Parent departments being reported, with their Executive Agencies or Crown NDPBs included and reported in the parent department for year ending 31 March 2023:

Attorney General’s Departments

Attorney General’s Office

Government Legal Department

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Companies House

HM Land Registry

The Insolvency Service

Met Office

UK Intellectual Property Office

UK Space Agency

Cabinet Office

Crown Commercial Service

Government in Parliament

Government Property Agency

Charity Commission ^{[footnote 2]}

Competition and Markets Authority

Crown Prosecution Service

Defence

Defence Equipment & Support

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Submarine Delivery Agency

UK Hydrographic Office

Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

The National Archives

Education

Education and Skills Funding Agency

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

Standards and Testing Agency

Teaching Regulation Authority

Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Animal and Plant Health Agency

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

Rural Payments Agency

Veterinary Medicines Directorate

ESTYN

Food Standards Agency

Health and Safety Executive

Health and Social Care

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

UK Health Security Agency

HM Revenue & Customs

Valuation Office Agency

HM Treasury

Government Internal Audit Agency

National Infrastructure Commission

Office for Budget Responsibility

UK Debt Management Office

Home Office

Housing, Communities and Local Government

Planning Inspectorate

Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

Department for International Trade

Justice

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

HM Courts and Tribunals Service

HM Prison and Probation Service

Legal Aid Agency

Office of the Public Guardian

National Crime Agency

National Savings and Investments

OFSTED

OFGEM

Office of Rail and Road

OFWAT

OFQUAL

Scotland Office

Scottish Government

Accountant in Bankruptcy

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

Disclosure Scotland

Education Scotland

Food Standards Scotland

Forestry and Land Scotland

National Records of Scotland

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator

Registers of Scotland

Revenue Scotland

Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service

Scottish Fiscal Commission

Scottish Forestry

Scottish Housing Regulator

Scottish Prison Service

Scottish Public Pensions Agency

Social Security Scotland

Student Awards Agency for Scotland

Transport Scotland

Serious Fraud Office

Transport

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Vehicle Certification Agency

Wales Office

Welsh Government

Welsh Revenue Authority

Work and Pensions

UK Export Finance

UK Statistics Authority

UK Supreme Court

 

Organisations not currently being reported on:

Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (BEIS)

Government Actuary’s Department

Northern Ireland Office

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

FCDO Services

Wilton Park Executive

Machinery of Government Changes

On 7 February 2023, the Prime Minister announced Machinery of Government changes to create three new government departments: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade; as well as a refocused Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The new departments are formed from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for International Trade, along with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Although the changes took effect immediately following the announcement, departments continued to report their sickness absence on the pre-announced structures for the Annual Report, dated March 31st 2023.

1. The large change in overseas AWDL is influenced by FCDO data being included in 2022 but omitted from 2023 for quality reasons ↩

2. Charity Commission provided 2022 data which is subject to ongoing review ↩