The latest work sickness figures show how vital it is to try and future-proof the UK against the next pandemic

We must do what we can to avoid a repeat of what we have seen over the last couple of years, writes Samuel Lovett

Covid accounted for nearly a quarter of all sick leave last year (PA)

After the suffering and pain of the past two years, another reason is hardly needed for better preparing the country for a future pandemic – yet newly published sickness absence figures for the UK in 2021 offer the latest incentive.

The proportion of people off sick from work last year rose to its highest rate for more than a decade, reaching 2.2 per cent of the working population, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Coronavirus accounted for nearly a quarter of all sick leave, with an estimated 149 million working days lost to illness or injury last year, equivalent to 4.6 days per worker.

Having ground the economy to a halt during 2020 and periods of 2021, Covid-19 is still continuing to erode the productivity of the nation.

Throughout last year, as the government implemented the policy of “living with” the virus, there were plenty of people falling ill. Not to the extent that we required medical assistance or hospitalisation – we have the vaccines to thank for that – but, in many instances, such bouts of sickness forced us out of work and into bed.

Indeed, Covid accounted for 24 per cent of all sickness-related absences in 2021, up from 13.9 per cent in 2020, the ONS said in its new research.

Women, older workers, those with long-term health conditions, people working part-time and people working in caring, leisure and other service occupations recorded the highest absence rates.

Men lost 1.8 per cent of their working hours in 2021 as a result of sickness or injury, while women lost 2.6 per cent – an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2020 in both cases.

In 2021, as in previous years, workers living in Wales had the highest sickness absence rate (2.8 per cent), while those in London had the lowest (1.7 per cent).

Can we expect this to become the new norm? Well, if infection rates in the community remain high (they’re currently on their way down, but from a high starting point), it’s an inevitability this will have a subsequent knock-on effect on economic productivity.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the average cost of sickness absence, including finding cover, stands at more than £3,000 a year for small employers, equating to £5bn across the small business community as a whole.

Earlier in the year, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 26 per cent of companies cite long Covid as a main cause of extended absence, in a survey of 804 organisations that represented more than 4.3 million employees.

The CIPD said that 46 per cent of the organisations had employees that had experienced long Covid, which is associated with fatigue, brain fog and memory issues, and that more should be done to support workers with the condition.

Learning the lessons of this pandemic and future-proofing the UK against new Covid variants and emerging infectious diseases should now be a priority – both to protect public lives and the economy. Making the investment now will save lives in the process.

But at a time of pressing parsimony and purse-tightening, it’s hard to know whether the government is truly committed to such a cause.