Sick days highest for fifteen years, says CIPD with mental health ill cited as the main reason

Workers took an average of 9.4 days off due to sickness in 2024, compared with 7.8 days in 2023 and 5.8 days in 2022, found the report based on a survey of 1,101 HR and management professionals. 

It's the highest level of absence recorded by the CIPD since 2010, when the organisation started tracking sick days.

Mental ill health was cited as the leading reason for both short and long-term absences and 64 per cent of respondents saw some stress-related absence over the last year, with workload the leading factor.

Mental ill health was cited as the leading reason for both short and long-term absences from work in 2024. Photograph: iStock

Cary Cooper, Professor of organizational psychology and health at Manchester Business School, commented to Safety Management that: "The fact that the HSE and CIPD surveys are showing a substantial increase in long term sickness due in the main to the common mental disorders of depression, anxiety and stress, is very worrying indeed.”

“Given the concerns that UK workers have about their job security in the current economic climate these negative figures are likely to be an under-reporting of distress that many workers are feeling,” he added, predicting that presenteeism could also be on the rise with colleagues feeling pressure to turn up when sick.

“Government needs to work with employers to tackle this problem head on, many employers are willing to take on the challenge."

Preventing stress and supporting mental health requires concerted action, says CIPD.

“Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of organisations are taking steps to identify and reduce stress in the workplace, but only half (50 per cent) of organisations overall think their efforts are effective,” says the report. “Heavy workloads stand out as the top cause of stress-related absence.”

Read CIPD's Health and wellbeing at work survey report 2025 published with Simplyhealth here