Dame Carol Black and David Frost carried out one of the most robust independent review of sickness absence, which was formally published in November 2011 as Health at Work: An Independent Review of Sickness Absence. This work was presented to parliament by the secretary of state for work and pensions. The report concluded that 140 million days were lost due each year due to sickness absence, equating to 4.9 days per worker per year. They calculated that the associated cost of sick pay was £9 billion per year, and that the State was spending £13 billion annually on health-related benefits.
The Wellbeing for the Education Sector
According to the most up-to-date sickness absence statistics, published by the Office of National Statistics in July 2018, an average of 4.1 days are taken off sick by each employee each year, amounting to 137.3 million sick days per year for the total workforce. Furthermore, mental health problems, including conditions such as stress, depression and anxiety, result in 15.8 million days being lost each year, which equates to 11.5% of all recorded sickness absence. Based on data from a 2019 survey on health and wellbeing at work, the CIPD provided the following summary: