The civil service is currently grappling with a sharp rise in staff absences, with the latest reports revealing that over four million working days are being lost each year due to employee illness. Several departments have reported sickness levels increasing by over 10% annually and accoring to the latest data, the civil service could be on track to surpass its previous record for staf sickness which was 8.3 days per employee per year recorded in 2023.

Those showing the most significant increases include the Home Office, where lost working hours rose by nearly 12% in the year to March, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which saw also saw a 12% rise in absences. At the Department for Work and Pensions, more than 3,500 of its nearly 100,000 staff were off sick at the end of March, with a further 1,700 absent for other reasons. Poor mental health and respiratory illnesses continue to be among the leading causes of absenteeism across departments.

Public sector workers, including civil servants, consistently report higher sickness levels than their private sector counterparts, The Times reported.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that public sector sickness rates are nearly 50% higher than those in the private sector.

Nonetheless, officials insist that civil service figures remain below those seen in both the wider public and private sectors when taken as a whole.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group told the Times: "Keir Starmer delivered a speech to civil servants upon coming to power praising them for their hard work, yet Labour ministers have been turning a blind eye to spiralling rates of sickness.

"If government ministers care about value for money they would be cracking down on these sickness rates until they are brought into line with the private sector."

According to Cabinet Office data, the average number of working days lost per employee due to mental health has also steadily increased since the pandemic, from 1.9 days in 2020-21, to 2.3 in 2021-22, 2.5 in 2022-23, and reaching 2.7 days in 2023-24.

Recent figures released by the TaxPayers' Alliance have revealed that more than 2,500 civil servants took time off work due to mental health-related illnesses last year alone.

As the government gears up to publish its next round of sickness absence data early next year, projections suggest a likely rise in average days lost, potentially matching or even surpassing the post-Covid high of 8.3 days per employee, according to The Times.

The Civil Service has a minimum 60% office attendance requirement which was introduced under the last administration after the extended periods of remote work during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Some believe that employees who previously would have worked remotely when feeling unwell are now choosing to take formal sick leave instead.

Civil servants at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have recently been striking in protest against office closures and the enforcement of stricter office attendance rules.