Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Sick Leave
(asked on 14th May 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
We can confirm we have searched our records and can provide the information below. This information covers the period 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019. We do not hold data relating specifically to stress as a separate category of sick leave absence. Instead we have provided data relating to all mental health absences. This category includes psychological illnesses such as stress, depression, anxiety and any other mental health condition.
How many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to mental health in the last 12 months | 109 members of staff 2.25% of total staff headcount |
What proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department | Absences relating to mental health made up 34.9% of all sickness absences |
What the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period | Total cost of mental health sickness is £427,559.55 |
The proportion of officials taking sick leave for reasons relating to mental health has remained constant at around 2% for the last five years.
We have various services and support mechanisms in place to support employee mental health. For example we have an internal employee led mental health ‘buddy’ network, and employees have access to an external provider Employee Assistance Programme, and Occupational Health Service. We also have a process in place for notifying and managing work related stress.