Trade unions have accused business leaders of anti-public sector bias for criticising sick leave levels in statutory bodies.

The TUC questioned the validity of Confederation of British Industry figures showing that public sector employees took on average 2.7 more sick days than private sector counterparts.

The TUC said the figures reflected the stress of public sector jobs, which led to greater long-term sickness, and added that short-term absences were higher in the private sector.

Unison policy officer Ross Hendry said: “I doubt whether many of those making some of these critical remarks would last a week in some of our members’ jobs.”