Mental health sick days taken by civil servants rise 38% in one year

Labour says data reveals ‘mental health crisis at the heart of Whitehall’, as unions say staff cuts and low pay among reasons

Whitehall civil servants took a record 771,433 days of sick leave last year because of stress and other mental health problems, figures show.

This all-time high number of mental health sick days taken by officials working for government departments was 38% higher than the 558,125 recorded just a year before.