New figures showing a fall in the number of sick days being taken by the UK workforce are a welcome but timely reminder to employers that they need robust and comprehensive policies in place to tackle the issue.

The research by PwC revealed that UK workers have an average of 9.1 days off annually due to sickness, with such issues accounting for 90 per cent of a company’s absence bill – approximately £28.8 billion.

Whilst the number of unscheduled absences was found to be lower than in 2011, the number of days due to illness was found to be slightly higher.

Findings such as this in my opinion serve to demonstrate the clear need for businesses to ensure they have thorough policies in place to address the issue of sickness absence. Unscheduled absences are falling, but the fact that the proportion of leave related to sickness has risen shows that this is very much a live issue for employers to actively examine and look to address. However, there remains a variety of tactics that businesses can consider to tackle this.

Through our work, we’ve seen that it is not uncommon for larger firms to consider investment in in-house counselling services. Whilst it can of course be an expensive step, it can be particularly worthwhile in terms of ensuring that workers are able to get vital support on mental health or depression issues to not only aid their recovery but also their re-integration back into the workplace.

A more common and less expensive tool is the return-to-work interview. It gives employers a chance to ask important questions in a sympathetic manner and can, in many cases, lead to an early intervention on any key issues.

Another perhaps more robust issue for consideration could be the issue of sick pay, primarily reducing the salary that people receive whilst they are off sick. This can act as a disincentive to taking sickness leave and is of course a contentious course of action and should only really be considered as a last resort.

The fact that this information was released as figures showed a fall in unemployment should not be forgotten. It is welcome more people are getting into work, but it is also important for employers to ensure they have measures which minimise the impact of sickness and provide workers with the right support.

* Fergal Dowling, partner and head of employment at Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham