Scottish Government staff sickness absence statistics: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

1. Number of staff members currently on long term sick leave.

2. Total Number of staff members.

3. Breakdown by health reason for long term sick leave.

4. The definition used for Scottish Government staff to define long term sick leave.

5. Number of instances of long term sick leave, and the number of staff members who experienced them in the past year.

6. The longest single period of long term sick leave taken by a staff member in the past year.

Response

I have provided the information which you requested below.

Please note that the following information relates to directly employed staff in the Core Scottish Government for the period April 2024 to March 2025.

These figures relate to the most recent sickness figures submitted to the Cabinet Office by the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Office publishes an annual Civil Service wide sickness absence report, the most recent of which is available at the following link: 

Civil Service sickness absence, 2024: report - GOV.UK

On a quarterly basis - the Scottish Government aggregate information on sickness absence which is submitted to the Cabinet Office. The information in this response is drawn from the latest submitted data for the period April 2024 to March 2025.

1. The number of directly employed staff members in the Core Scottish Government that were off on long term sick leave on 31 March 2025 was 125.

2. The total number of directly employed staff in the Core Scottish government on 31 March 2025 was 9,290 as published here - Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot

3. I have provided a breakdown below of the health reasons for the long term sick absences incurred by directly employed staff in the Core Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Long Term Sickness - category	Number of instances – over the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025	Percentage of the total of 879 reported instances
Neoplasms (cancers)	37	4.21%
Circulatory system	16	1.82%
Pregnancy complications	20	2.28%
Genitourinary systems	14	1.59%
Infections and parasites	6	0.68%
Injury and poisoning	21	2.39%
Mental disorders	399	45.39%
Musculoskeletal system	42	4.78%
Nervous systems (inc. headaches)	17	1.93%
Digestive systems (inc. food poisoning	20	2.28%
Respiratory system (inc. colds)	20	2.28%
Pandemic (inc. Covid-19)	9	1.02%
Symptoms ill-defined	143	16.27%
Unknown	102	11.6%
Other	13	1.47%
Total	879 instances	99.99%

Definitions used in table

Instances = This is the number of instances attributed to a specific absence reason in the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Percentage = This is the percentage for that absence reason out of the reported total of 879 instances of long-term sick absence.

4. The definition used by the Scottish Government for long term sick leave is an absence which has exceeded 20 working days.

5. The number of instances of long-term sick leave incurred by directly employed staff in the Core Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 was 879. The number of directly employed staff in the Core Scottish Government that experienced a long-term sick absence during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 was 682.

6. The single longest continuous period of long term sick leave taken by a directly employed staff member in the Core Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 lasted for 250.5 working days, or the equivalent of 12 months of sick leave.

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.