Acas Guidance On Sickness Absence

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported in April this year that the sickness absence rate, which is the percentage of working hours lost due to sickness or injury, rose to 2.6% in 2022. This was the highest the absence rate has been since 2004, when the figure was 2.7%. The ONS noted that this translated into an estimated 185.6 million working days lost throughout the year, a record high amount. Notably, the trend of an increase in sickness or injury related absences was consistent across all age groups. Undoubtedly, a large contributor to these statistics was the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. In the latter stages of 2021, there was a reduction to the furlough scheme and a slow decline in homeworking and social distancing policies. This meant that employees and workers were returning back to working face-to-face more frequently, and exposed to new illnesses in the workplace.