Days off sick drop to an all-time low driven by the self-employed

THE number of sick days taken by workers has fallen to a record low – driven by the unwillingness of selfemployed people to take time off.

New figures yesterday showed that an average worker took 4.3 days off sick last year, the lowest figure since official counts began in the early 1990s.

And self-employed workers take only two thirds of the time off taken by fulltime staff, according to estimates by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS report, published the day after Chancellor Philip Hammond provoked a backbench revolt by imposing higher National Insurance payments on 2.5million solo workers, said the number of working days lost to sickness has been declining since 2000. It dropped particularly fast in the downturn after 2007.

It said that alongside self-employed workers, those least likely to call in sick were employees in private industry and commerce, non-smokers and men. Public sector workers and women are most likely to stay at home.

The figures gave further weight to critics who yesterday said the Chancellor had unfairly hammered the people who had done most to improve Britain’s economic performance and productivity.

Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘Going it alone in the business world involves risk and those choosing to be self-employed are putting their all into making it work.

‘In many cases, they are forced to push through and stay on the job.’

The figures showed that Scottish workers had among the highest sickness rates in the UK. Between October 2015 and September 2016, 2.5 per cent of all hours scheduled to be worked were lost to sickness absence, compared to the UK average of 1.9 per cent. Only Wales was higher, at 2.9 per cent.