Scottish Government employee sickness absence data: FOI release

Information requested

1. For each year of 2017, 2018 and 2019, the average sickness absence rate for all Scottish Government employees, including the headcount of employees for each year.

2. For the same years, the headcount of employees who were required to work in government offices and the average sickness absence rate for that cohort.

3. For the same years, the headcount of employees in each year who worked from home and the average sickness absence rate for that cohort.

4. For the years 2020 and 2021, the headcount of all employees and the average sickness absence rate.

5. For the years 2020 and 2021, the headcount of employees who were required to work in government offices and the average sickness rate for that cohort.

6. For the years 2020 and 2021, the headcount of employees in each year who worked from home and the average sickness rate for that cohort.

7. For the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, the average sickness absence rate for all Scottish Government employees, including the headcount of employees for each year.

8. For the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, the headcount of employees who were required to work in government offices and the average sickness rate for that cohort.

9. For the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, the headcount of employees in each year who worked from home and the average sickness rate for that cohort.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

The reasons why we don't have some of the information requested are explained below.

Questions 1, 4 and 7 – You requested information on the employee headcount and the average sickness rate for all Scottish Government (SG) employees for 2017 to 2024.

The Scottish Government publishes a statistical bulletin on a quarterly basis which provides information on its workforce. This bulletin includes figures on the Scottish Government’s employee headcount on a Full-time equivalent (FTE) basis. The bulletin also contains information on the average sickness rate for Scottish Government employees.

This information is published on the Scottish Government website, and it can be accessed using the link provided below:

Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot

Questions 2, 5 and 8 – You requested information on the headcount and sickness absence rates of employees that were required to work in government offices for 2017 to 2024.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the vast majority of staff worked all or most of their time at a Scottish Government building/workplace. From March 2020 to February 2022, in compliance with rules relating to Covid-19, all staff, except those who met essential worker criteria, were required to work from home.

During the pandemic, decisions about which essential functions could not be delivered through remote working were made locally. No central record was kept about the number of SG staff who were required to attend an SG building/workplace during that time, and this is therefore formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

From February 2022, the SG moved to a hybrid working model as part of our transitional response to the later stages of the pandemic. A hybrid working model continues today and applies to the majority of our employees.

The hybrid working arrangements ensure that colleagues combine working from home with a presence in a workplace (and for some roles, with stakeholders in communities). There are no centrally fixed mandated number of days that staff must work in the office per week but there is the expectation that staff attend a Scottish Government workplace at least once per week.

Arrangements for the amount of time spent in an office and the time spent working from home are reached locally between the employee and their manager. There is no central record held and therefore, whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the data that you have requested.

Questions 3, 6 and 9 – You requested information on the headcount and sickness absence rates of employees that were required to work from home in 2017 to 2024.

Please see our response above.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.