Long-term and short-term sickness absences of SIA employees
Published 25 August 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/long-term-and-short-term-sickness-absences-of-sia-employees/long-term-and-short-term-sickness-absences-of-sia-employees
Request
- The long-term and short-term sickness absences of SIA employees in total and average per employee for each of the last 3 years.
- A breakdown of the reasons given by SIA employees for long-term and short-term sickness absences in each of the last 3 years.
- The number of SIA employees who took a sickness absence and declared that they have a disability or long-term health condition (whether or not disability or a long-term health condition was given as the reason for the absence) in each of the last 3 years. Please can this be broken down into long-term and short-term absences.
- The number of SIA employees who have stated that they have a disability or long-term health condition. Please can this be given as a total for each of the last 3 years as well as a percentage of all employees in each of the last 3 years.
- The number of SIA employees who declared “Work Related Stress” as the reason for a sickness absence when completing a SelectHR record for a sickness absence in each of the last 3 years.
- The SIA’s return-to-work form asks the question “Did the employee indicate that factors at work may have caused or contributed to the absence?”.
In relation to answers to this question, please provide the following:
- the total number of SIA employees who answered “yes” to this question in each of the last 3 years - what percentage this is of all employees who were absent in these years
- the number of absences of SIA employees in each of the last 3 years where these employees answered “yes” to this question - what percentage this is of all absences in these years
Response
I can confirm that we do hold the information you have requested.
Number of long-term and short-term sick days
The table below shows the total number of long-term and short-term sick days from the last 3 years.
| 2023 – 2024 | 2024 – 2025 | 2025 – 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term total sick days | 1,425.5 | 1,356 | 2,149 |
| Short-term total sick days | 888 | 1,205.5 | 1,303.5 |
The table below shows the average number of long-term and short-term sick days per SIA employee from the last 3 years.
| 2023 – 2024 | 2024 – 2025 | 2025 – 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of employees | 353 | 363 | 364 |
| Average number of long-term sick days per employee | 4.04 | 3.74 | 5.90 |
| Average number of short-term sick days per employee | 2.52 | 3.32 | 3.58 |
Reasons for long-term and short-term sickness absences
We have attached 2 CSV files containing the data requested. These files show the number of absences recorded for each reason over the period requested. These are the number of absences, not the number of days.
Disabilities and sickness absence
The table below shows the number of SIA employees who both declared a disability and took a short-term sickness absence from the last 3 years.
| 2023 – 2024 | 2024 – 2025 | 2025 – 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand total | 49 | 79 | 66 |
The total number of SIA employees who declared a disability and took a long-term sickness absence in the last 3 years was 9. Due to the extremely low numbers for long-term sickness we have not broken this down by year to avoid identifying individuals.
The table below shows the number of SIA employees who declared a disability and long-term health condition in the last 3 years.
| 2023 – 2024 | 2024 – 2025 | 2025 – 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of employees | 50 | 81 | 72 |
| Average total number of employees | 350 | 363 | 365 |
| Percentage of employees who declared they had a disability | 14% | 22% | 20% |
Reason for absence: work-related stress
This data is included in the CSV files provided in our response to question 2.
Return to work forms
This information is exempt from release under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 200 as to do so would exceed the cost limit. The appropriate cost limit is £450, which equates to 18 hours work at a rate of £25 per hour.
This information is only recorded in the form filled out by an employee’s line manager when they undertake a back to work interview. To collate this information would require locating and opening every back to work interview form from the period requested. This would exceed 18 hours work.
[Ref: FOI 0624]