Thank you for your request for information about the following:

‘Can you publish the long-term sickness data for staff since the 2018 financial year?

How many were eventually dismissed since 2018 due to long-term sickness?

On 26 October 2022 you clarified your request as follows

Hi yes it is numbers per year’

Your request was received on 25 October 2022 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Long term sickness (LTS) absence refers to absence of more than 28 days. Figures for dismissals were the number of cases where the last day of LTS was the same date as the dismissal date.

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the exact number where the total number of dismissals falls below 5 in a year. This is because the former staff could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose former staff personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress.

b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the former staff.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

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The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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