Civil Service sick days soar by third to more than 1.8m

TAXPAYERS should be "alarmed" as more than 1.8 million days were lost to long-term sick leave in the Civil Service in a year, MPs have warned.

- Steph Spyro

Data discovered via a parliamentary question by the Lib Dems also found the total rose by a third in four years.

Civil Service staff racked up some 1.86 million days on long-term sick leave in 2022 - up from 1.39 million in 2018, which was before Covid.

Tory MP Greg Smith said: "These are very concerning figures that should alarm taxpayers and ministers.

"Of course, people with genuine long-term sickness need the time to recover, but there seems no rational explanation for the substantive rise in long-term sickness among the Civil Service compared to other parts of the public sector and private sector.

"This definitely needs looking into."