National sickness absence statistics
| Teacher sickness absence statistics | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Percentage of teachers taking sickness absence | 54.8 | 54.4 | 54.1 | 45.3 | 67.5 | 66.2 | 65.7 |
| Days sick per teacher* | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 6.3 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Days sick per teacher taking sickness absence* | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 8.6 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 8.3 |
| Number of teachers taking sickness absence | 271,048 | 269,345 | 275,646 | 229,774 | 347,488 | 324,436 | 337,687 |
| Total days sickness absence taken | 2,005,370 | 2,001,030 | 2,070,490 | 1,967,390 | 3,221,640 | 2,594,750 | 2,796,380 |
The data is taken from the 'teacher sickness absence' section of the DfE's latest school workforce in England data and from workforce data using the create your own tables tool.
To see for yourself, go to the tool and then:
- Choose a publication: select 'teachers and school workforce' then 'school workforce in England'
- Choose a data set: select 'teacher sickness absence', then click 'create your own table'
- Choose locations: select 'England' (under 'national')
- Choose time period: select the years you're interested in from the drop-down menu
- Choose your filters: select all 5 filters
‘Days sick per teacher’ is the sickness absence rate averaged out across all teachers in service, irrespective of whether they took any sickness absence ‘Days