Britain’s £5bn hangover: Why today tops sickie list

THE new year hangover will cost the economy almost £5billion, say analysts.

They found nearly one in eight workers who go ill do so in the first week of January – prompting raised eyebrows from bosses.

Most absences are logged today, the first day back after the new year bank holiday.

This pattern has not changed since it was first measured 16 years ago, suggesting a lot of staff could be throwing sickies.

It contrasts strongly with illness rates across the rest of the festive period. The majority are due to colds or flu, analysis of 18million sick days reveals.

They typically last for three days, with women almost a third more likely to take time off compared with men.

The greatest levels of new year absences are found in the NHS, which records almost a third of the total, while local councils chalk up a fifth.

Ian Caminsky, of absence specialist FirstCare, said: ‘The holiday period is always a time for celebration but also a time of year where staff are plagued by colds and flu.

‘Our data shows this particularly takes its toll on the economy during the first week of the new year. Organisations should take proactive steps to guard against this.’

Sickness absence has fallen heavily since the mid-1990s, estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics show. It says that in 2018 each worker took on average 4.4 days off, compared to 7.2 in 1995.

More than a quarter were blamed on minor illnesses, around one in five on back pain and roughly one in eight on mental health conditions including stress.

The ONS found the highest rate of absences were in Scotland and Wales, and the lowest in London.