{
 "id": "sickness-absence-uk",
 "title": "Sickness absence rate, UK",
 "category": "labour-market",
 "summary": "The share of working hours lost to sickness absence in the UK each year since 1995, with the days lost and the days lost per worker, for people in employment aged 16 and over, from the ONS's sickness absence tables.",
 "unit": "percent",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Official statistics in development",
 "notes": [
  "The sickness absence rate is the share of working hours lost because of sickness absence, for people in employment aged 16 and over, an annual average of the four quarters of the Labour Force Survey. The ONS says the rate is the most appropriate measure for comparing years.",
  "The days lost (meta, in millions) are the hours lost, divided by 7.5 and multiplied by 52, and the days per worker those days over everyone in employment; the ONS cautions against comparing 2020 and 2021's days lost with other years, since furloughed workers were away from work.",
  "From 2019 the Labour Force Survey is weighted to the 2022 mid-year population estimates, so 2018 and 2019 are not strictly comparable."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Office for National Statistics",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/",
  "source_page": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-09T15:00:09Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "dataset.json",
    "url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/data",
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   {
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    "url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2025/data",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2025-12-31",
  "days_lost": {
   "1995": 185.0,
   "1996": 176.1,
   "1997": 183.8,
   "1998": 178.6,
   "1999": 185.2,
   "2000": 178.0,
   "2001": 179.0,
   "2002": 174.7,
   "2003": 178.4,
   "2004": 168.3,
   "2005": 163.5,
   "2006": 159.9,
   "2007": 163.2,
   "2008": 156.1,
   "2009": 146.9,
   "2010": 138.7,
   "2011": 132.4,
   "2012": 134.8,
   "2013": 131.8,
   "2014": 134.0,
   "2015": 139.1,
   "2016": 137.3,
   "2017": 131.5,
   "2018": 141.4,
   "2019": 139.0,
   "2020": 119.4,
   "2021": 152.6,
   "2022": 188.3,
   "2023": 163.8,
   "2024": 148.9,
   "2025": 148.8
  },
  "per_worker": {
   "1995": 7.2,
   "1996": 6.8,
   "1997": 6.9,
   "1998": 6.7,
   "1999": 6.8,
   "2000": 6.5,
   "2001": 6.5,
   "2002": 6.3,
   "2003": 6.3,
   "2004": 5.9,
   "2005": 5.7,
   "2006": 5.5,
   "2007": 5.6,
   "2008": 5.3,
   "2009": 5.0,
   "2010": 4.7,
   "2011": 4.5,
   "2012": 4.5,
   "2013": 4.4,
   "2014": 4.4,
   "2015": 4.4,
   "2016": 4.3,
   "2017": 4.1,
   "2018": 4.4,
   "2019": 4.2,
   "2020": 3.7,
   "2021": 4.7,
   "2022": 5.7,
   "2023": 4.9,
   "2024": 4.4,
   "2025": 4.4
  },
  "ons_edition": "2025",
  "file": "sicknessabsence2025.xlsx"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "Working hours lost to sickness absence",
  "value": 2.0,
  "period": "2025",
  "note": "148.8 million days lost, 4.4 days a worker"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "Sickness absence rate",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "1995",
     "v": 3.1
    },
    {
     "x": "1996",
     "v": 2.9
    },
    {
     "x": "1997",
     "v": 3.0
    },
    {
     "x": "1998",
     "v": 2.9
    },
    {
     "x": "1999",
     "v": 3.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2000",
     "v": 2.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2001",
     "v": 2.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2002",
     "v": 2.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2003",
     "v": 2.8
    },
    {
     "x": "2004",
     "v": 2.7
    },
    {
     "x": "2005",
     "v": 2.5
    },
    {
     "x": "2006",
     "v": 2.5
    },
    {
     "x": "2007",
     "v": 2.5
    },
    {
     "x": "2008",
     "v": 2.4
    },
    {
     "x": "2009",
     "v": 2.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 2.2
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 2.1
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 2.1
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 1.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 1.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 1.9
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 2.2
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 2.6
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 2.3
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 2.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}