The number of days lost to sickness absence in the civil service has risen to a 12-year high, according to new figures.
The Civil Service Absence report, released by the government at the end of last week, shows that an average of 8.1 days’ sickness absence were taken by staff in 2023, up slightly from 7.9 days in 2022 and the highest since 2011.
Most absence was down to long-term sickness (4.4 days per staff year), with mental ill-health the main cause of long-term absence (45%). Musculoskeletal issues caused 13% of long-term absence.
The biggest cause of short-term absence, which accounted for 3.7 days per staff year, was respiratory system illnesses (22%). Covid continued to cause significant absence, accounting for 21% of short-term periods out of work.
The figures show that a higher proportion of civil servants took no time off in the period to 31 March 2023, up to 49% from 42% a decade earlier.
Civil service HR
Civil servants campaign for four-day weekÂ
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However, some departments suffered more absence than others, with the highest level of absence at the Ministry of Justice, where employees took 11.1 days per staff year.
London-based civil servants had the lowest levels of sickness absence, at 6.2 days per year. Northern Ireland and Scotland had the highest levels of sickness absence at 9.5 and 9.4 days respectively.
Older workers took more days off – with those over 60 taking 10.8 days per year compared to 6.6 days for those aged between 16 and 29. Sickness absence also decreases with seniority, with absence highest among people in the most junior grades (11.8 days).
Women took more days off in the civil service than men – 8.9 days compared to 7.2 days. Men were also more likely to take no sickness absence, with 53% taking no time off versus 47% of women.
The civil service also published its annual people survey last week, showing that employees are happier about their pay following last year’s rise, but still less satisfied with reward than they were two years ago.
In 2023, 32% of civil servants said their pay adequately reflects their performance, compared to 27% of civil servants in 2022 and 38% in 2021.
However, 44% of civil servants said that over the past 12 months, money worries had affected their ability to do their job. Overall engagement with their work also declined slightly, to 64%, one percentage point lower than in 2022.
Last month, senior civil servants said that real-terms pay cuts over the past decade had led to issues with recruitment and retention.
Despite orders from senior ministers to return to the office for at least 60% of the week, there have been calls from unions for civil servants to be able to work a four-day week so they can achieve a better work-life balance.
That said, the engagement survey showed that two of the civil service’s benchmarks for wellbeing improved in 2023 compared to the previous year: life satisfaction (up 3 percentage points) and feeling things in life are worthwhile (up 1 percentage point).
Although mental health issues accounted for high levels of long-term absence, self-rated mental health levels of “excellent” or “good” increased by one percentage point to 72%, the survey said.
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