Number of working days lost to sickness rockets to record high as NHS backlogs hit economy

The number of days lost to sickness last year rocketed to 185.6 million, almost 25% more than in 2021 and overtaking 1999 as the highest number of days lost since records began in 1995.

While part of the increase in days lost was due to the population growing over time, the percentage of total available of working hours lost was still the highest since 2004.

“Sickness absence rose again in 2022, so that the proportion of working hours lost was the highest since 2004,” ONS head of labour market and household statistics David Freeman said. “This comes after it dropped to its lowest ever rate at the start of the pandemic, when lockdown and furloughing reduced people’s exposure to minor illnesses.

“Because the working population is much bigger now than it was nearly twenty years ago, in 2022 the total number of working days lost was the highest on record.”

The absence rate for those with long-term conditions rose to the highest level since 2008, amid long NHS backlogs. According to figures published in December, more than one million Londoners are on an NHS waiting list for treatment.

Brett Hill, head of health and protection at leading independent consultancy Broadstone, said it was likely that things will only get worse in the forseeable future.

“After years of improving health in the workplace, sick days surged to a record high last year in concerning data which should raise huge red flags for employers up and down the country,” he said.

“The rapidly declining health of the nation’s workers will have a devastating impact on productivity. Bosses should brace for an acceleration of this trend in 2023 given the current crisis in the NHS with patients struggling to access appointments and treatment in good time.

“It is particularly worrying to see the record absences from those with longer-term health conditions as the evidence shows those who are off sick for extended periods often struggle to return to the workplace, resulting in permanent loss to the UK workforce.”

Minor illnesses made up 29.3% of absences, rising to close to pre-Covid levels.

At the same time, half a million more people are out of the labour force — and therefore not counted in the absence statistics — because of long-term sickness than in 2019.

London has the lowest absence rate, at 2.1%, thanks to its younger workforce and lower rates of manual labour.

The sickness rate was higher for public sector workers at 3.6% than the private sector, where it was 2.3%.