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The average UK employee took nearly two full working weeks of sickness absence in the past year.

This startling figure – 9.4 days in 2025, up from 7.8 in 2023 – is revealed by the 2025 Health and Wellbeing at Work report from the CIPD. Employee absence rates have risen across the board but remain their highest in the public sector.

Minor illness remains the most common cause of short-term absence. However, psychological ill health, encompassing poor mental health and stress, features strongly as a cause of both short- and long-term absence. For example, mental ill health is the second main cause of short-term absence and by far the top cause of long-term absence, typically causing absence periods of four weeks or more.

In June 2025, the Office for National Statistics reported that the rate of sickness absence fell in 2024, with employees losing on average 4.4 days of work per year.