Employee Health Report: The Most Common Sick Leave Reasons in the UK in 2024 & 2025

The research by Access People highlights that overall, sick day levels are continuing to increase significantly due to various reasons. 

The CIPD Health and Wellbeing Report found that average UK employee sick days rose to 9.4 days in 2025, up from 7.8 in 2023. These levels reflect broader societal trends, including an ageing workforce and a rise in long-term health conditions. 

Sick leave reasons have changed year-on-year across businesses. However, the reason for the biggest hike in days taken off for sickness in the last year is actually related to childcare issues - not personal sickness. 

This is up by 182% in the last year - and could be due to workers needing to take time off for unplanned child care requirements - whether it’s due to other plans falling through, an emergency, or simply because their child is unwell. 

Employees are allowed statutory time off to deal with emergencies involving a dependant. However, the fact it’s risen so much in the last year indicates a change - perhaps staff feel more confident telling their managers about using this as a reason for taking time off. This is as the new Carer’s Leave Act came into force recently, which entitles carers to a week’s unpaid leave to give or arrange care for a dependent. 

Businesses also saw a stark rise in absence in 2022-2023 due to increased reports of UTI’s (50%), cancer (33%), diabetes (33%), and stomach problems (18%). Although continued treatments may reflect the higher reports for cancer. 

Further reasons for increased absence over this period include headaches (16%), surgeries and operations (8%), earache (7%), infection (5%), and food poisoning (2.44%). 

The rise in absence for headaches and stomach problems may be partially due to the rise of long-covid symptoms in 2020 which were still prevalent in 3.1% of the population in 2023. 

However, some of these sick leave reasons could also be a sign of deeper issues such as burnout, stress or a general rise in sickness, either industrially, or on an individual or company-by-company basis - with reports of mental health absences up by 36.45% from 2019-2023. 

Work related sickness absences are often stated as high, such as anxiety, musculoskeletal and injuries. According to HSE (Health and Safety Executive), the average person suffering from a work-related illness took around 15.8 days off work each year. However, the Access People data does not see any clear indications of types of sickness absence linked to the work of employees, apart from the possibility of mental health. 

Sickness days relating to mental health saw a peak in 2021 and 2022 - falling slightly in the last year, in a sign that businesses have put their foot on the gas and addressed burnout challenges that surfaced after the pandemic. 

The research revealed that businesses are faring differently year by year when it comes to the reasons they receive for sick leave. 

The majority of businesses have seen a rise in certain sick leave reasons in recent years, with some rising at a faster pace than others, and vice versa. 

Mental health 

The CIPD Health and Wellbeing report notes that mental ill health is now the leading cause of long-term absence (41%) and the second most common cause of short-term absence (29%). 

How has mental health sickness absence changed? 

The rise of poor mental health since 2019 (36%) may be partly due to employees in the UK not using all their annual leave entitlement, with days of holiday taken dropping by 7.6% from 2022-2023 alone, which can increase the likelihood of burnout and stress related sick leave. 

Encouraging employees to take their full holiday entitlement is important for businesses, with stress forcing one in five workers (19%) to call in sick, according to mental health charity Mind. The majority of these people (93%) have also lied to their boss about the real reason for taking time off, citing everything from stomach upsets, housing problems and the illness of a loved one as reasons for their absence, highlighting an issue with this topic being feared as taboo in businesses. 

To overcome the issue of mental health masking among employees, businesses can work with HR software to keep an eye on both annual leave bookings and sick leave requests, to spot any patterns or issues, enabling them to identify where they can offer help, or help prevent burnout with holiday reminders. 

The fear of taking time off for stress and mental health may be reflected in the research by Access People, with increased reports of stomach problems (18%), and headaches (16%) from 2022-2023 possibly hiding wider issues around stress and poor mental health. 

“Physical, mental, and financial wellbeing are completely interconnected. Financial stress directly impacts mental health. Mental health challenges affect physical wellness. And we know that physical movement and activity directly boost mental wellbeing and cognitive function.” 

Emma Parkin, Head of Propositions at The Access Group in Beyond the Payslip: From Scattered Benefits to Strategic Retention 

Watch the full webinar to discover more about why employees leave despite having good benefits and how poor communication can kill engagement. You can also see Access Engage in action. 

Childcare as a dependent 

The 183% rise in parents taking sick leave to care for their children could be a result of staff returning to more office-based roles with less ability to be at home, along with viruses and diseases settling into their pre-pandemic seasonal patterns and being easily spread around schools. 

While taking this time off may be a necessity for parents, it may also reduce their ability to take further paid sick leave for themselves should they become ill. 

This leans into a wider issue where 67% of parents are taking their annual leave to cover childcare commitments, taking away from the time they may need to rest, recover, and reduce the likelihood of burnout. 

In 2022-2023 alone, the Access People data recorded a 50% rise in sick leave absences for UTIs among businesses. This comes after an NHS report citing over 1.8 million hospital admissions involving the infection in the past five years. 

With women 30 times more susceptible to the infection than men, reports of antibiotic resistance and treatment being less compatible with female bodies could be causing repeated or prolonged time off sick for recovery. 

Diabetes 

Absence leave for diabetes in the UK rose by 33% from 2022-2023, in line with the ‘rapidly escalating’ diabetes crisis reported by Diabetes UK. In 2025, Diabetes UK estimates that over 5.8 million people are now living with diabetes—an all-time high. This includes nearly 1.3 million undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes, and an estimated 12.1 million adults living with either diabetes or prediabetes.

While there is no one reason for diabetes, the rise in cases and sick leave for the condition could be partly associated with the cost-of-living crisis and its negative impact on social deprivation; with factors including income, access to healthy food, and poorer access to healthcare shown to increase the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

Following the surge in coronavirus-related absences during the pandemic years (2019–2023), where reports of COVID-19 as a reason for sick leave rose by over 5900%, the landscape in 2025 shows a notable shift. 

According to the UK Health Security Agency, COVID-19 activity has decreased slightly and now circulates at baseline levels, with hospital PCR positivity rates dropping to 6.1% and GP swab positivity at 7.4%. This decline in infection rates is mirrored in workplace data: while overall sickness absence has reached a record high of 9.4 days per employee, which represents a 62% increase on pre-pandemic levels, COVID-19 is no longer a leading cause. 

Instead, minor illnesses, mental ill health, and musculoskeletal issues now top the list of reasons for short- and long-term absences. The drop in COVID-related sick leave may be attributed to several factors: 

A recent review by the public health journal Frontiers found that telework reduces absenteeism and supports return-to-work processes, especially for those recovering from illness or managing chronic conditions. However, it also noted that presenteeism can increase if not properly managed. 

According to the latest Labour Force Survey data, the sickness absence rate for women in 2024 was 2.5%, compared to 1.6% for men. While both rates fell slightly from 2023, women’s rate remains 0.1 percentage points higher than in 2019, whereas the rate for men has returned to its pre-pandemic level. 

Sick leave taken by women also rose at a significantly faster rate than men from 2021 to 2023, by 15.61% for women, compared to 1.12% for men.  

When comparing 2023 to 2019, sick leave taken by women is up by 40.18%. For men, this figure jumps to 60.60%.  

While childcare for a dependent led the way as the most common reason for sick leave in 2023, the balance of men and women taking time off for this reason is far from evenly spread.  

In 2023, women took 334.62% more sick leave for childcare and dependency than men. This follows a continued rise in caring responsibility taken by women in 2021 (10.34%) and 2022 (4.35%). 

Individually, men and women both saw an increase in sick leave being taken for childcare and dependency from 2022 to 2023, albeit with women taking on more in comparison with a 371% rise compared to a 13% rise for men.  

Looking back to the previous four years, men sacrificing their sick leave for childcare has seen a decline overall, down by 50% from 2019 compared to 2023. On the other hand, women taking leave for childcare has seen a continued rise over the past four years, by 73.85% from 2019 to 2023.  

The CIPD’s Health and Wellbeing report provides employers and people professionals with essential benchmarking data and analysis on current and emerging health and wellbeing trends and practices in the workplace. 

General sickness absence trends 

• Average UK employee sick days rose to 9.4 days in 2025, up from 7.8 in 2023 and 5.8 in 2024 
• Mental ill health is now the leading cause of long-term absence (41%) and the second most common cause of short-term absence (29%) 
• Minor illnesses remain the top reason for short-term absence (78%) 
• Stress is a major contributor to both short-term (26%) and long-term (28%) absence 

Mental health & stress 

• 64% of organisations report stress-related absence, rising to 84% in the public sector 
• Only 29% of organisations train line managers to support mental health, but those that do see 73% confidence in managers to have sensitive conversations, compared to 57% without training 
• Heavy workloads are the top cause of stress-related absence (41%) 

Hybrid working impact 

• 36% of organisations report that sickness absence has decreased due to homeworking 
• 33% say productivity has increased with remote work, while only 16% report a decrease 
• However, 35% report a rise in presenteeism (working while unwell) among remote workers 

Hybrid and remote work is now an integral part of all large businesses and knowing how to engage with employees working remotely is imperative. For detailed strategies on how to engage with employees and build your culture, read our blog on ‘How to build and maintain company culture in large, distributed organisations’. With strategies like these in place, you can build a culture that promotes healthy working habits. 

Remote workforces also offer other challenges; learn more about them in our guide to ‘The challenges of managing a remote workforce - and how to overcome them’. 

Wellbeing investment & strategy 

• 57% of organisations now have a standalone wellbeing strategy, up from 44% in 2020 
• 74% of senior leaders now prioritise wellbeing, up from 61% 
• 90% of organisations see benefits from wellbeing investment, including: 
  • Improved health (54%) 
  • Increased engagement (39%) 
  • Reduced absence (39%) 
  • Enhanced performance (38%

Getting sick is a part of life, and it's crucial for businesses to make their teams feel supported in taking sick leave to recuperate. It’s also important for businesses to understand the reasons for sick leave in their business to support their workforce and work to reduce sick leave where possible. 

Through the adoption of HR software to document sick days, companies can pinpoint ongoing issues, implement strategies for improvement, and assess the need for an audit of attendance practices.  A Workforce Planning Template can also help you determine how to plan and utilise your resources to support business objectives. 

Selecting suitable absence management software for your needs is important, especially as your business expands and keeping track of every employee's attendance becomes more complex. Ensuring you have the right business process can help: 

• Spot patterns to identify frequent causes of absence 
• Prevent burnout by encouraging staff to book holiday 
• Boost engagement with a tailored approach that keeps everyone in the loop 
• Understand absences with the reasons why unengaged employees are taking time off. 

Methodology

Access People, part of the Access Group, looked at anonymised sickness leave data taken from 1,775 businesses in 18 sectors, categorising by best fit for reasons of sickness. It analysed sickness absence data for the full years of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, to understand the correlation between each year.