LEVELS of sickness absence in the civil service have fallen by almost 10 percent, according to latest figures from the Cabinet Office. Civil servants took on average 9.1 days off sick in 2004, compared with 10 days the previous year. Sick leave cost the civil service an estimated 400 million pounds in 2004. Lord Hunt, minister for health and safety, described the figures as "encouraging" but added: "There is no room for complacency and there is still more work to be done right across the civil service." Sickness absence levels in Hunt's own ministry, the Department for Work and Pensions, fell from 11.6 days per person in 2003 to 9.6 days in 2004, but that is still one of the highest absence levels recorded by any government department. By contrast, staff in the Cabinet Office took an average of 3.6 sick days in 2004.
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