Transparency data

Civil Service sickness absence, 2021: report

Published 31 March 2022

Contacts

Statistical Enquiries: aandi-socialresearch@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Press enquiries: wayne.bontoft@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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Download data tables (ods, 17.2 KB)

Overview

This bulletin presents headline information on sickness absence in the UK Civil Service workforce, including by gender, age, length of absence, absence cause, location and department, for the year ending 31 March 2021.

Key Highlights from Management Information:

Overall Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year in the Civil Service is 6.1 days in the year ending 31 March 2021, down from 7.4 days in the year ending 31 March 2020.

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

• 3.6 days per staff year were lost to long term sickness, and 2.5 days to short term sickness. Both decreased on the previous year from 4.3 and 3.1 respectively.
• Mental Ill-Health is the largest cause of long term sickness absence (41%), followed by Musculoskeletal System Disorders (13%).
• COVID-19 is the largest cause of short term absence (32%) followed by Mental Ill-Health (17%).
• London has the lowest level of sickness absence (4.3 days), compared to Scotland and the West Midlands (7.3 days).
• Women took 6.6 days on average compared to 5.6 days for men.
• Sickness absence tends to increase with age, with those over 60 taking 8.3 days compared to 5.5 days for those aged 16-29 years.
• Two thirds (66%) of civil servants took no sickness absence in the year to 31 March 2021, this is 25 percentage points higher than a decade earlier (41% took no absence in 2011).
• Absence rates differ by department, ranging from 1.1 days at the UK Supreme Court to 9.7 days at the Ministry of Justice.

Average working days lost per staff year, 2010 to 2021

Methodology

Sickness Absence in the Civil Service is an annual report describing sickness absence across the UK Civil Service workforce in terms of departments, grade, location, age, gender, length of absence and reasons for absence.

These figures incorporate home Civil Service departments 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 bulletin 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 bulletin 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, departments 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 2021 covers the time period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. Data for the preceding year (2020) covers the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and so forth. Unless otherwise stated, all the data reported in the bulletin 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: aandi-socialresearch@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

By organisation

Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year by department ranges from 1.1 days at the UK Supreme Court to 9.7 days at the Ministry of Justice. Sickness absence increased in only two organisations between 2020 and 2021:

• The Ministry of Justice; AWDL increased to 9.7 days in the year ending 31 March 2021 from 9.1 in the year ending 31 March 2020.
• The Food Standards Agency reported an increase from 4.4 days in the year ending 31 March 2020 to 4.8 in the year ending 31 March 2021.

Departmental breakdowns of overall sickness absence and the leading cause of absence, Mental Ill-Health, can be found in data Tables 3a and 3b (ods, 17.2 KB) respectively.

Average working days lost per staff year by main department in 2020 and 2021

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 67% of working days in the Civil Service and 76% of sickness absence taken.

The data presented in all the charts in this report can be found in the accompanying data tables (ods, 17.2 KB) file published alongside this report.

By grade

Sickness absence levels decrease with seniority, with AWDL per staff year at the most junior grades (AA/AO) at 9.4 days compared to SCS levels that stand at 1.6 days. The percentage of days lost to long term sickness absence is broadly similar across grades outside of the SCS (between 58% and 59%). In the SCS this increases to 62% of all days lost to sickness. The proportion of staff taking no sickness absence increases with grade, and for SCS is 38 percentage points higher than for AA/AO grades.

Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by grade, 2021

Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence during the year by grade, 2021

Average working days lost per staff year by grade, 2010 to 2021

By region

Average working days lost per staff year varies across the regions. The regions with the highest levels of sickness absence are Scotland and West Midlands (7.3 days). After overseas, the regions with the lowest levels of sickness absence are London (4.3 days) and the South West (5.3 days). There is also variation in the percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence, after overseas (83%) ranging from 76% in London to 61% in the Midlands, and South East.

Average working days lost per staff year by region for 2020 and 2021

Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence by region, 2021

By sex

Sickness absence levels for women (6.6 days) are higher than men (5.6 days). There is little difference between the long term and short term split of sickness for men and women. The percentage of staff with no sickness absence is five percentage points higher for men (69%) than for women (64%). In the year ending 31 March 2021 the number of days of sickness absence decreased for men and for women by 0.9 and 1.7 days respectively, compared to the year ending 31 March 2020. Over the last 10 years sickness absence rates for both men and women have been declining. The number of days absence taken by women has fallen by 2.7 days since 2011. During the same period the number of sickness absence days taken by men fell by 1.5 days.

Average working days lost per staff year by sex, 2010 to 2021

Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by sex

Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence during the year by sex, 2021

By age

Sickness absence tends to increase with age, increasing from 5.4 days for those aged 30-39 to 8.3 days for those aged 60 and over. The youngest age band, 16-29 report similar levels of sickness absence to those aged 30-39 in the most recent period. The percentage of absence that is long term also increases with age, from 51% in the under thirties to 68% 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 percent range.

Average working days lost per staff year by age, 2010 to 2021

Percentage of working days lost to long term and short term sickness absence by age, 2021

Percentage of staff with no reported sickness absence by age, 2021

By absence reason

Mental Ill-Health is the leading cause of sickness absence, with an average of 1.9 days lost during the year. 1.2 days are lost on average to COVID-19. Mental Ill-Health and Musculoskeletal System Disorders are the largest causes of long term sickness absence at 40.8% and 13.1% respectively. COVID-19 accounts for 11.9% of long term absences. 31.7% of all short term sickness absence is due to COVID-19, followed by Mental Ill-Health (17%) and Musculoskeletal System Disorders (8.7%).

Short term sickness absence by absence reason, 2021

Long term sickness absence by absence reason, 2021

Average working days lost by main sickness absence reason, 2021

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 2021:

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

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

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

FCDO Services

Wilton Park Executive

Health and Safety Executive

Health and Social Care

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Public Health England

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

Northern Ireland Office

OFSTED

OFGEM

Office of Rail and Road

OFWAT

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

OFQUAL

Machinery of Government Changes

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office became the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in September 2020 during the collection of data for this report.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government became the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in September 2021 after the collection of data for this report.

Public Health England was replaced by UK Health Security Agency and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in April 2021 after the collection of data for this report.