Sickness absence from work in the UK

Abstract

In the three months from March to May 2004 some 1.7 million scheduled working days were lost to sickness absence among employees. Some 2.9% of employees took at least one day off work because of sickness or injury. The days lost to sickness were fairly evenly spread across the weekdays. This is counter to the common perception that sickness absence is higher on Monday and Fridays as a result of non-genuine absence. Female employees and younger employees aged 16 to 34 were more likely than other groups to take at least one day off sick. Lone mothers had the highest rate of sickness absence, followed by women with no dependent children (4.4% and 3.4% respectively). Men without dependent children had the lowest rate of absence. The proportion of employees who took at least one day of sick was higher in the public sector than the private sector (3.1% compared with 2.8%).