Data shows almost half of people with flu-like symptoms miss work or school
Flu vaccination remains our best defence against workplace and school absenteeism.
UKHSA has published insights from FluSurvey, which highlight the wider impact of flu-like illness on people’s daily lives.
- among those in work or education, 47% reporting flu-like symptoms missed work or school in previous winter seasons
- most reported that their illness disrupted their daily life with the majority treating their symptoms at home while 14% sought help from their GP or a healthcare service
The findings show that most participants reported that their illness disrupted their daily life with the majority treating their symptoms at home, while 14% sought help from their GP or a healthcare service.
Among those in work or in education, 47% reported missing work or school due to their symptoms and the majority reported taking medication, most commonly painkillers, to manage their illness.
Ensuring school children are vaccinated as early in the season as possible is key, not only to protect them, but to help stop the spread into the wider community and those at greater risk of more severe illness, like grandparents and younger siblings. Giving children protection through vaccination also means that parents are less likely to have to take time off work to care for sick children.
Dr Becki Green, Principal Scientist for Respiratory Viruses at UKHSA, said:
These findings show the big impact that flu-like illnesses can have on people’s daily lives and while most rightly treat their symptoms at home, almost half missed work or school, needing time to recover. This is why getting your flu vaccine is so important, not just to protect against serious illness, but to reduce the wider disruption flu causes every year on workplaces, the economy and education.
Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said:
Flu can have a significant impact on people’s daily lives and, as these findings show, can mean time away from work, education and family life while you recover. It can also cause serious illness, particularly for those at higher risk, including pregnant women, young children and people with certain long-term health conditions.
More than 7 million children and adults have already had their flu vaccine, which remains the best protection against serious illness and can help reduce the disruption that flu causes for individuals, families and communities each winter.
So, if you’re eligible for a free NHS flu vaccination, including if you’re pregnant or have a young child who is offered the vaccine, please do come forward as soon as possible to help protect yourself and those around you.
FluSurvey, the UK’s longest-running participatory surveillance system, relies on members of the public voluntarily reporting their symptoms each week, providing valuable insight into illness circulating in the community that would otherwise go unseen by healthcare-based surveillance systems.
The findings are drawn from 2 full winter seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25), during which more than 68,000 weekly symptom surveys were completed.
Commenting on this week’s surveillance of respiratory viruses data report, Dr Jamie Lopez-Bernal, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said:
Our surveillance for the past week shows flu remains at low levels and the early rise we saw in previous weeks has slowed and COVID-19 also remains at low levels, but we’ll be closely tracking all the major respiratory viruses right through the winter, so we can spot trends early and keep the public informed.
While currently these virus levels are low, we can’t easily predict what may happen over the coming weeks and vaccination remains our best defence. If eligible book your free NHS flu, COVID-19 or RSV vaccine or ensure your child receives their easy and painless nose spray flu vaccine as soon as possible, before viruses start circulating more widely this winter.
It’s also important to remember the simple steps we can all take to reduce the spread of winter viruses, including staying at home if you have flu-like symptoms, good hand hygiene and covering coughs and sneezes. Importantly you should also avoid contact with anyone who is particularly vulnerable and not visit those at greater risk in hospitals and care homes.
If unsure you can check if you’re eligible and book an appointment through the NHS App or website, by contacting your GP practice or by walking into a participating pharmacy. More information is available on the UKHSA blog: Your guide to who’s eligible for the autumn 2026 flu vaccine
Registration is now open to sign up to participate in this year’s FluSurvey and contribute directly to helping protect the nation’s health from flu and other respiratory viruses this winter through one short survey each week.