Government Departments: Sick Leave
(asked on 25th January 2024) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8810 on Cabinet Office: Sick Leave, if he will make an estimate of the total number staff days lost to long term sick absences in each Department in each year since 2015.
The tables below provide the estimates requested, long term sick days lost per department (Table 1), along with our preferred measure, Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition (Table 2). Data is provided for the main Ministerial Departments and excludes those that have been most impacted by Machinery of Government changes, for which times series comparisons between 2015 and 2022 are not possible.
Table 1: Long Term Sickness Absence by Main Department, Days Lost, 2015-2022
| Long Term Sick Days Lost | |||||||
Department | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Cabinet Office | 5,580 | 6,510 | 6,400 | 5,050 | 10,550 | 13,250 | 13,090 | 20,750 |
Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities | 8,460 | 9,270 | 7,840 | 7,140 | 6,710 | 7,310 | 6,850 | 7,670 |
Department Culture Media and Sport | 530 | 1,810 | 1,490 | 3,470 | 3,710 | 3,630 | 2,670 | 4,110 |
Department for Environment | 18,960 | 16,690 | 14,890 | 14,240 | 15,490 | 19,880 | 19,210 | 27,070 |
Department for Education | 10,940 | 7,990 | 7,890 | 12,370 | 13,870 | 13,810 | 9,580 | 20,410 |
Department for Transport | 84,920 | 67,810 | 64,430 | 66,560 | 72,710 | 70,130 | 51,950 | 71,260 |
Department for Health and Social Care | 27,790 | 26,270 | 21,140 | 23,520 | 24,950 | 24,300 | 20,880 | 27,770 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 261,960 | 221,470 | 234,770 | 239,720 | 276,110 | 311,110 | 243,230 | 383,320 |
HM Customers and Revenue | 214,960 | 232,220 | 225,420 | 208,810 | 205,770 | 233,750 | 189,360 | 243,040 |
HM Treasury | 1,500 | 2,030 | 2,870 | 2,150 | 3,190 | 3,050 | 2,770 | 3,990 |
Home Office | 95,910 | 103,870 | 101,740 | 114,820 | 119,990 | 132,200 | 109,360 | 148,080 |
Ministry of Defence | 222,240 | 203,240 | 197,180 | 195,440 | 185,100 | 219,600 | 219,380 | 149,690 |
Ministry of Justice | 442,840 | 414,460 | 403,990 | 372,220 | 398,510 | 434,270 | 435,690 | 596,420 |
Scottish Government | 83,580 | 80,990 | 88,840 | 97,660 | 109,990 | 123,980 | 111,300 | 134,510 |
Welsh Government | 23,160 | 23,980 | 22,880 | 22,630 | 23,840 | 17,290 | 14,590 | 20,110 |
Table 2 : Long Term Sickness Absence by Main Department, Average Working Days Lost per Staff Year, 2015-2022
| Long Term Average Working Days Lost per Staff Year | |||||||
Department | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Cabinet Office | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
Department Culture Media and Sport | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
Department for Environment | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
Department for Education | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 2.6 |
Department for Transport | 5.3 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 4.9 |
Department for Health and Social Care | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 2.6 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 4.5 |
HM Customers and Revenue | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
HM Treasury | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
Home Office | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 4.5 |
Ministry of Defence | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 2.8 |
Ministry of Justice | 6.8 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 7.4 |
Scottish Government | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 5.9 |
Welsh Government | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 3.7 |
Notes:
Annual Data for year ending 31 March 20xx
Source – Management Information
Days rounded to nearest 10 days, AWDL rounded to 1 decimal place
Ministerial Departments which have been most impacted by Machinery of Government changes over the period, and for which, consistent comparisons are not possible, are not shown.
For sickness absence publications see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence