Workers less likely to return after sickness absence

A study by the Department of Work and Pensions has examined how likely
workers are to go back to work after the onset of sickness and disability.

The research by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, at the London
School of Economics, found that 2.6 per cent of those polled became sick or
disabled quarter-on-quarter – using a definition of disability based on the
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

Using a definition based on receipt of statutory sick pay or incapacity
benefit (SSP/IB), this percentage was a much lower 0.3.

Of those who became DDA disabled, 5 per cent left employment almost
immediately, compared to 23 per cent of those on sick pay or incapacity
benefit.

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After between nine and 12 months had elapsed, 13 per cent of those who
became DDA disabled had left employment, compared with nearly half of SSP/IB
recipients.

www.dwp.gov.uk