HMRC has reported over 550,000 sick days across the department in the last year, equivalent to 8.5 sick days per staff member
In total, 551,064 sick days were taken by HMRC employees between August 2024 and July 2025 across a total workforce of around 65,000 staff. This figure was slightly down on the previous year’s 562,244 days off sick, but was still up on 2022-23 when it stood at 540,052 days. Even with hybrid working with staff required to attend office locations or equivalent for 60% of their contracted working weeks, there is little sign that absence rates are improving.
The sickness data was obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Ulla Technology and analysed by Parliament Street think tank, observing the number of sick days taken by HMRC staff each year for the past three years, as well as the budget costs for health and wellbeing programmes.
