Off sick rate rises

The UK’s sickness absence rate rose to 2.2% in 2021, up from its record low of 1.8% the year before – with, unsurprisingly, Covid-19 accounting for nearly one in four of all occurrences.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), an estimated 149.3 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in the UK in 2021, equivalent to 4.6 days per worker.

Normally, the two main reasons for sickness absence are minor illnesses and musculoskeletal problems, but this time the most common reason given was “other” conditions, the third category, including accidents, poisonings, diabetes and coronavirus. The fourth category is mental health conditions.

The groups with the highest rates of sickness absence included women, older workers, those with long-term health conditions, people working part-time and people working in caring, leisure and other service occupations.

According to the ONS, in 2021, as in previous years, workers living in Wales had the highest sickness absence rate (2.8%), and those living in London the lowest one (1.7%), 0.5 percentage points below the UK average.

Sickness absence rates have been consistently lower for men than for women since 1995, the ONS continues, with the rates for both sexes generally falling between 1995 and 2020. Men lost 1.8% of their working hours in 2021 (an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2020) as a result of sickness or injury and women lost 2.6% of their working hours (an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2020).

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/sicknessabsenceintheuklabourmarket2021