Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days of long term sick leave were recorded by prison staff in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

The working days lost due to long term sickness for prison staff by calendar year is given in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Working days lost to sickness absence, for long term sickness for prison staff - 2021 to 2023 (full time equivalent)

Notes

Information for 2023 is only available up to 30 September as that is the latest published position.

Long Term sickness is defined as a period of sickness consisting of 29 or more calendar days.

Working Days Lost are adjusted for an individual’s FTE i.e. if someone is part time with less than 1 FTE their Working Days Lost will be adjusted accordingly.

The next set of data for the period to 31 December 2023 is due to be published in the HMPPS Quarterly Workforce Statistics Bulletin on 15 February 2024.

The numbers of absence rates attributed to long term sickness have seen a reduction in the years above, which is a significant improvement.

HMPPS is focused on reducing its sickness absence rates through the support currently offered to staff and managers, including a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides the workforce with access to confidential support & counselling services. This is in addition to the organisation’s Occupational Health Service that supports staff & management with medical advice, and HMPPS’ multitude of staff networks that are part of HMPPS’ commitment to ensuring our staff feel supported in their roles.

HMPPS are actively reviewing their approach to staff wellbeing to strengthen the wellbeing offer. Managers support employees who are unwell and are provided HR casework support to appropriately manage employee absence in line with established policies & procedures.