Working days lost due to injury and illness in Great Britain 2000-2024

In 2023/24, there were approximately 33.7 million working days lost in Great Britain due to work-related injury or illness, compared with the previous year, which had 37 million working days lost. The amount of working days lost in 2019/20 was the highest in this provided time period, with 2010/11 having the fewest in this time period, at 25,950. In terms of overall sickness absence in the UK labor market, there were approximately 185.6 million working days lost in 2022, compared with 149.8 million in the previous year.

Over 2.8 million on long-term sick leave in late 2023

As of November 2023, the number of people economically inactive in the UK due to being on long-term sick leave was just over 2.8 million. It is thought that Long COVID is one of the main factors behind this increase, with an estimated 1.8 million people suffering from the condition in April 2022. There has also been a rise in the number of people taking sick leave due to mental health conditions, with approximately 313,000 on long-term sick leave in 2022 due to this reason, and a further 282,000 for depression, bad nerves, or anxiety.

Where most workplace injuries happen

The water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities industry had the highest rate of workplace injuries reported in Great Britain between 2014/15 and 2022/23, at 804 injuries per 100,000 workers. During the 2022/23 reporting year, the industry with the highest number of fatal accidents in the workplace was construction, which had 45. When adjusted for the size of the workforce, however, construction was second to Agriculture, which had 7.87 fatal accidents per 100,00 workers. Overall, however, the number of people getting injured at work has fallen significantly in recent years. In 2000/01 for example, there were more than a million accidents, with this falling to just 561,000 in 2022/23.