Sickness costing small businesses more than £3k a year

In its latest report the Office of National Statistics revealed that the sickness absence rate in the UK in 2021 rose to 2.2 per cent, from a record low of 1.8 per cent in 2020 – the highest it has been since 2010.

An estimated 149.3 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in the UK in 2021, equivalent to 4.6 days per worker.

The most common reason for sickness absence in 2021 was “other” conditions, including accidents, poisonings, diabetes and coronavirus (COVID-19).

COVID-19 accounted for nearly one in four of all occurrences of sickness absence in 2021.

The groups with the highest rates of sickness absence in 2021 included women, older workers, those with long-term health conditions, people working part-time and people working in caring, leisure and other service occupations.

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) policy and advocacy chair Tina McKenzie said the average cost of sickness absence, including finding cover, stands at more than £3,000 a year for small employers, equating to £5 billion across the small-business community as a whole.

“With operating costs surging in the round, small firms need more financial assistance to go on doing right by their staff when they’re unwell,” she said.

“On the day that the Government has announced yet more help for big energy-intensive companies, we’re asking policymakers to take forward our joint proposal with the TUC for a small business sick pay rebate which will support those who have received no assistance whatsoever with utility bills.

“Allowing small community businesses to recover sick pay costs will give them that much more space to invest, recruit and retain staff, spurring our economic recovery from the grass roots up.”