Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employees who were dismissed from employment by his Department or its executive agencies since 2010 were on long-term sickness absence at the time of their dismissal; and how many such employees had been diagnosed with a condition considered (a) incurable, and (b) terminal.

Justin Tomlinson

DWP has succeeded in reducing sickness absence from an annual average of 8.4 days per employee in December 2010 to 6.2 days per employee currently.

DWP’s Attendance Management policy is supportive of our people and we are committed to helping them maintain good health. We will support employees during periods of sickness absence as long as there is a realistic prospect they will return to work. However, where this is not the case, we need to take prompt action to manage the situation.

The following table provides a summary of number of employees dismissed while on long-term sickness absence.

DWP does not record whether an employee’s condition is diagnosed as incurable or terminal, so cannot provide this information.