Sickness levels 'falling'

There has been continuing decline in the number of sick days taken by employees in Britain over the course of the last decade, new research shows.

Figures obtained by the Financial Times from the Office for National Statistics show that there has been a drop from 2.6 per cent to 1.7 per cent in the number of male employees who took at least one sick day in the week before being surveyed between 2001 and 2009.

For women, meanwhile, the drop was from three per cent to 2.2 per cent.

Nonetheless, there remains a difference between the average number of sick days per employee in the public and private sectors, the research shows.

An average of 6.4 days are taken off each year by those in the private sector, while this rises to 9.7 days in the public sector.

Other differences were between different age groups and the sexes. Those at a later stage of their career development, have better attendance rates, with those in their 60s being in work for the highest number of days each year.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the NHS loses more than ten million working days each year as a result of sickness.