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Sickness absence in the Northern Ireland Civil Service 2010/2011

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) today published the report “Sickness Absence in the Northern Ireland Civil Service 2010/2011”. This is their twelfth annual report on sickness absence. It is, however, the first report to include information on staff in the Department of Justice and the Public Prosecution Service. It is also the first report to include information on industrial staff.
~ Friday, 2 December 2011

The key findings are as follows:

  • In 2010/2011 the headline absence figure was 10.4 days (average days lost per staff year), down from 11.0 days in the previous year. The NICS absence target of 10.5 days was therefore met.
  • The headline absence level represents 4.7% of available working days lost and equates to approximately £25.5million of lost production.
  • The proportion of staff with no recorded spells of absence increased from 50.1% in 2009/2010 to 51.5%.
  • Analysis by Department revealed that the level of absence ranged from 5.4 days in OFMDFM to 13.4 days in DSD. A large part of this variation was attributable to differences between Departments in terms of their grade, gender and age profiles.
  • As in previous years, the level of absence was highest at the Administrative Officer (AO) grade level (13.2 days).· The absence level of females
  • reduced from 14.2 days in 2009/2010 to 12.9 days in 2010/2011 but was still markedly higher than that of males (8.1 days). It remained higher (11.7 days) even when Pregnancy Related Disorders were taken into account.
  • The main reason for absence was Anxiety/Stress/Depression/Other Psychiatric Illnesses. The proportion of working days lost due to illnesses of this type was 30.4%, a similar proportion to the previous year (30.5%).
  • The level of absence in the NICS was due, in large part, to a relatively small group of staff (10.3%) being absent from work on a long-term basis for an average of 61.7 working days. This group of staff accounted for 71.0% of the total days lost.
  • The level of absence was highest for staff aged 55+ (11.2 days). At 9.9 days, staff aged 16-24 had the lowest level of absence.
  • Staff within their first year of employment lost significantly fewer days to sickness absence (5.4 days) than staff who had been employed for one year or more (10.5 days).

The bulletin is available on the NISRA website

Notes to editors:

  1. This is the twelfth annual report by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) on sickness absence.
  2. Long-term absences are defined as absences lasting for more than 20 consecutive working days.
  3. Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Finance and Personnel Communications Office on Tel: 028 9016 3388 or 028 9016 3389. Out of Office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.