If you run a small business, you probably know your wage bill to the penny. What you probably don’t know is what a sore back, a bad few weeks, or a stubborn bout of flu is really costing you.

Neither did we, until we sat down and worked it out. We say this as people who once lost a whole morning to a printer that “definitely worked yesterday”, so we’re hardly in a position to lecture anyone about hidden costs.

This guide walks through where the money goes, what the latest official figures say, and where private medical insurance (PMI) can realistically help. It also covers what PMI won’t do, because we’d rather you heard that from us.

The bit you can see: Statutory Sick Pay

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the visible part of the bill, and the rules changed in April 2026:

SSP is now payable from the first day of sickness. The three unpaid “waiting days” have gone.
The lower earnings limit has been removed, so more of your team now qualify.
The flat weekly rate rose to £123.25, and employees receive the lower of that figure or 80% of their average weekly earnings.

In plain English: even a single day off now has a cost attached. But SSP is the small part of the story.

The bits you can’t see

The expensive items rarely get their own line in the accounts:

Cover. Agency or temporary staff, or overtime for everyone else (who then get tired, and so on).
Delays. Slipped deadlines, rearranged schedules, and the slightly awkward phone call to a customer.
Management time. Reshuffling rotas, return-to-work paperwork, and the same worried conversation held three times in a week.
Lost output. The experienced person who is at work but not firing on all cylinders.

That last one has a name: presenteeism. It’s a posh word for turning up when you shouldn’t, usually out of loyalty rather than laziness. It doesn’t show up in your absence records, which is exactly why it’s easy to miss. We haven’t put a number on it here because we couldn’t find one we’d be happy to stand behind.

What the official figures say

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes the most reliable national numbers. For 2024/25, across Great Britain:

An estimated 1.9 million workers were suffering from work-related ill health.
Around 40.1 million working days were lost to work-related ill health and workplace injury.
Stress, depression and anxiety affected around 964,000 workers and accounted for 22.1 million lost days.
Musculoskeletal disorders (backs, joints, shoulders, knees and so on) affected around 511,000 workers and accounted for 7.1 million lost days.
Each person affected took, on average, around 16.4 days off.
The estimated cost of workplace injury and ill health to the economy was £22.9 billion (2023/24 prices).

For construction specifically, HSE estimates around 79,000 workers were suffering from work-related ill health, with roughly 2.2 million working days lost each year and a cost of about £1.4 billion.

A fair health warning on these numbers: they cover work-related illness and injury only, are based on self-reported survey data, and describe the whole country rather than your firm. Your total sickness absence will include other things too. Treat them as a sense of scale, not a forecast.

Where private medical insurance fits

Many owners think of PMI as an executive perk, something for the director’s bonus conversation. For a small team that relies on a handful of key people, it’s better thought of as a way to get people diagnosed, treated and back at work sooner.

Depending on the policy, that can include:

Faster access to physiotherapy and musculoskeletal support, so a bad back is dealt with early rather than becoming a long absence.
Virtual GP appointments, often available evenings and weekends, so small problems don’t snowball.
Mental health support, such as helplines and counselling routes.
Quicker diagnostics and specialist referrals, so you know what you’re dealing with sooner.

Why does speed matter? Because the NHS is under real pressure. As of August 2025, the trauma and orthopaedics waiting list in England stood at around 866,000, with only 58.8% of patients starting treatment within the 18-week standard. The constitutional standard is 92%. (That’s a hospital treatment waiting list, not a physiotherapy one, and waits vary a lot by area.)

We’ll be straight with you about one thing: you’ll see websites claiming PMI cuts absence by a specific percentage, or pays for itself in a set number of months. We haven’t quoted any, because results vary enormously between businesses and we can’t stand behind a blanket figure. What we can say is that faster care generally means shorter waits to get better.

What PMI won’t do

We’d be a rubbish neighbour if we oversold this, so:

PMI generally covers acute conditions, meaning those that can be treated and resolved. Long-term (chronic) conditions are typically not covered in the same way.
Pre-existing conditions are often excluded, depending on how the scheme is underwritten.
Policies vary a lot on limits, excess and what’s included. The cheapest isn’t always the right one.
It’s not a replacement for good working practices, manual handling training, or a workplace where people feel able to say “my shoulder’s bad” before it becomes a month off.
Tax: employer-paid PMI is generally a taxable benefit in kind for the employee, and the employer pays Class 1A National Insurance on it (15% at the time of writing), although the premium is usually an allowable business expense. Your accountant can confirm how this works for your business.

Do your own sums

Rather than take anyone’s word for it, spend ten minutes (and one cup of tea) on your own numbers:

Count the days. Add up total sickness days across your team last year.
Cost a day. Work out what one person off costs: their daily pay, employer costs, and the cost of covering their work.
Multiply step 1 by step 2.
Allow for the invisible. If you suspect people are working through pain, add a sensible allowance for reduced output.

A benchmark to start with: HSE’s all-industry average is 1.46 working days lost per worker per year to work-related ill health and injury alone. For a team of 50, that’s roughly 73 days before you’ve counted ordinary illness.

An illustration, using made-up numbers: if 73 days each cost you £250 once cover, delays and admin are included, that’s £18,250 a year. Your numbers will differ, which is rather the point of doing the exercise.

Then compare your figure with the cost of a well-structured scheme. For some businesses the sums stack up well; for others they won’t, and we’ll tell you if that’s you.

Beyond insurance: the free stuff

Insurance helps, but some of the best wins cost nothing:

Keep simple absence records so you can spot patterns early.
Hold a quick, friendly return-to-work chat after every absence.
Invest in manual handling and ergonomics, especially for physical roles.
Make it normal to speak up early about aches, stress and worries.

Who we are and what we do

Insure My Health is an independent private medical insurance brokerage based in Bournemouth. We look across the market, explain the options in plain English, and help you choose cover that fits your team and your budget. Already have a plan? We’ll review it and manage it for you.

Curious what absence is really costing you, and whether PMI could help? Get in touch via insuremyhealth.uk for a no-pressure chat. We promise not to say “synergy” even once.

Key Sources

Figures correct at the time of writing. Statistics are for Great Britain unless stated. This guide is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice.

Insure My Health is a trading style of Parkway Mortgages Ltd, an Appointed Representative of The Right Mortgage Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England & Wales Number: 6748364

The Hidden Cost of Sickness Absence