The available data relating to police sickness absence have been centrally collected from 2002-03 and is set out in Table A. The data are available on the Home Office website, located at:
http://www.police.homeoffice.gov.uk/performance-and-measurement/performance-assessment/
The method of counting police officer sickness was changed in 2004-05. For and prior to 2003-04 it is counted on the basis of days lost per officer. From 2004-05 police sick absence data has been collected and published in hours per officer. The change was made to reflect the fact that the police officers and staff do not work a conventional day and are employed on differing shift patterns.
The Home Office does not hold data on the reasons for sick absence in the police service.
Information on sick absence for the Home Office and its agencies. Home Office staff data represents the number of working days lost to sickness, the number of days lost to sickness per member of staff and the percentage of sickness attributed to stress.
Police officers Police staff 2002-031 10.4 days 11.7 days 2003-041 9.6 days 10.9 days 2004-05 70.9 hours 72.6 hours 2005-06 69.3 hours 77.4 hours 2006-07 69.7 hours 74.8 hours 1 Data is incomplete for those years.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Home Office HQ1, 2 Working days lost to sickness — — 23,564 30,082 24,393 Average number of working days lost to sickness per member of staff — — 5.12 5.99 6.9 Percentage of days lost to sickness attributed to stress — — 23 25 24 Border and Immigration Agency1, 2 Working days lost to sickness — — 157,066 164,181 197,476 Average number of working days lost to sickness per member of staff — — 10.17 10.31 11.27 Percentage of days lost to sickness attributed to stress — — 11.39 11.80 14.22 Criminal Records Bureau3, 4 Working days lost to sickness — — 3,700 3,100 4,300 Average number of working days lost to sickness per member of staff — — 9.2 8.2 10.5 Percentage of days lost to sickness attributed to stress — — 5— 5— 5— Identity and Passport Service Working days lost to sickness 32,724 33,087 36,386 38,822 42,324 Average number of working days lost to sickness per member of staff 13.5 12.64 11.34 10.21 9.73 Percentage of days lost to sickness attributed to stress 27 23 24 24 24 1 The data in the table has been extracted from the Home Office HQ and Border and Immigration Agency personnel system. 2 The Home Office HQ and Border and Immigration Agency's data for 2003 and 2004 is not available due to lack of central recording. 3 CRB do not centrally hold sick absences due to stress related conditions therefore this information is not available. 4 Information on sick absence for CRB was not collected and held centrally until 2005 therefore data are only available for the last three years. 5 Not available.