Mental health issues top reasons for sick days, as new figures show short term sick leave has gone up at West Berkshire Council

Sickness absence has gone up by an average of three days per year to around 10 days per year for staff at West Berkshire Council.

Long-term sickness is reducing, but short-term days off have gone up.

But the council’s HR team says that 2020/21 was the primary year impacted by the Covid pandemic, and this impacted on absence rates in that normal absence was reduced significantly due to a large proportion of staff working at home for the majority of the year; thus 2020/21 was an anomaly.

The last two years have seen the average number of days off at around nine.

The HR report to the council shows that long-term absence is defined as a continuing sickness absence of more than 28 consecutive calendar days.

During 2024/25, long-term sickness absence was 52 per cent of all sickness absences (8,204.5 days lost); in 2023/24 it was 64.2 per cent (10,514.5 days lost).

This shows a significant decrease in long-term absence.

During 2024/25, short-term absence has significantly increased to 48 per cent of all sickness absence (7,561.5 days lost); in 2023/24 it was 35.8 per cent (5,855 days lost).

The most common reason for short-term absence is for minor illnesses – such as coughs/colds and flu; sickness/nausea and diarrhoea.

The top three overall reasons for sickness absence at West Berkshire Council in 2024/25 were mental health conditions – 33.4 per cent; minor illnesses – 15 per cent; and musculoskeletal problems – 14.4 per cent.

The most common reason for long-term absence is mental health conditions. This includes stress, depression and anxiety.

In total, 33.4 per cent of all sickness absence (long-term and short-term) was due to it.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes an annual survey on workplace absence for all sectors.

Across the UK, the number of working days lost because of sickness or injury was an estimated 148.9 million in 2024.

This is an increase of 9.9 million from the pre-coronavirus 2019 levels.