National sickness absence statistics
| Teacher sickness absence statistics | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The percentage of teachers taking sickness absence |
54.5 | 54.8 | 54.4 | 54.0 |
|
Days sick per teacher* |
4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
|
Days sick per teacher taking sickness absence* |
7.5 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.5 |
| Number of teachers taking sickness absence | 289,344 | 290,127 | 274,076 | 284,186 |
| Total days sickness absence taken | 2,158,297 | 2,139,864 | 2,025,231 | 2,133,253 |
The data is taken from this DfE table of school workforce data in England.
To view more school workforce data, select 'browse data files' to download data or select 'create tables' to view headline data in your browser.
*The DfE clarified the difference between 'days sick per teacher' and 'days sick per teacher taking sickness absence':
- ‘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 sick per teacher taking sickness absence’ is the average number of days sick taken by those teachers who had at least one period of sickness absence
There are no national absence statistics for support staff.
To get sickness absence data for each school