News

A report has challenged the belief that public sector workers are more likely to throw a sickie than those in the private sector.

The TUC study found that short-term absence in the publicly funded organisations is 4.9 days a year, compared with 5.5 days in private companies.

Other surveys have claimed that public sector staff take up to 50 per cent more time off than private sector employees.

The TUC also found that UK workers are less likely to take time off than other Europeans. General secretary Brendan Barber said: "Public sector staff are less likely to take time off for a short-term illness."

However, in another survey, the UK workforce was shown to be prone to fibbing.

The study by Cyberslotz. co.uk, a games website, revealed that workers told more than 1.4 billion lies to their bosses in 2004, with 68 per cent admitting to lying at least once a week. With the UK workforce numbering 30 million, this equates to nearly 47 lies a person on average.

Throwing a sickie and lying about reasons for arriving late for work were the most common untruths.