The government has dumped a massive heap of data, as is the...
Cllr Elliot Keck@ElliotKeck
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Dec 17, 2025
~2 min read
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The government has dumped a massive heap of data, as is the tradition before parliamentary recess
The data on sickness absence in the civil service is just astonishing
Quick 🧵 on the most eye-catching parts
The data on sickness absence in the civil service is just astonishing
Quick 🧵 on the most eye-catching parts
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Firstly, the government have taken a pretty big step back
Progress had been made at bringing the surge in sickness absence brought about by Covid under control
That progress has been undone - an average of 8.2 working days per member of staff has been lost in 2025
Progress had been made at bringing the surge in sickness absence brought about by Covid under control
That progress has been undone - an average of 8.2 working days per member of staff has been lost in 2025
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In most organisations the situation has deteriorated
The Ministry of Justice and Crown Prosecution Service have seen particularly disturbing strikes
Extraordinary that Lammy is choosing scrapping jury trials to clear the backlog instead of cracking down on sick days lost
The Ministry of Justice and Crown Prosecution Service have seen particularly disturbing strikes
Extraordinary that Lammy is choosing scrapping jury trials to clear the backlog instead of cracking down on sick days lost
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The number of days lost has increased in each and every grade.
It's now 11.5 days (over two weeks!) for the average AA/AO and 9.3 days for EOs, the two lowest grades
It's clear that permissive sick leave is now just treated as a non-salary perk for those on lower pay
It's now 11.5 days (over two weeks!) for the average AA/AO and 9.3 days for EOs, the two lowest grades
It's clear that permissive sick leave is now just treated as a non-salary perk for those on lower pay
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Sickness has increased in every age group, but notably we are seeing 30-39 year olds for the third year running taking more sick leave than 40-49 year olds
Millennials are not okay...
Millennials are not okay...
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Interestingly, while the average sickness taken broadly correlates with age, i.e. the older age groups take more sick days than younger ones, when looking at % of staff who take no sickness at all, the data flips
What does that suggest about the differing reasons they take sick days?
What does that suggest about the differing reasons they take sick days?
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But this is the most extraordinary of the charts. Almost half of people on long-term sick leave are taking it for mental health reasons
😯
😯
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Unfortunately this is what having the adults back in charge looks like
They've handed out huge pay rises, with no strings attached.
Not only that, they've shifted the culture back to a far permissive one when it comes to sick leave
The results are unsurprising
gov.uk/government/pub…
They've handed out huge pay rises, with no strings attached.
Not only that, they've shifted the culture back to a far permissive one when it comes to sick leave
The results are unsurprising
gov.uk/government/pub…
