This story in the Sunday Mirror reports that driving examiner sick days are costing the taxpayer £500,000 a year.
Just for the record, the number of tests carried out every year is somewhere around 1.8 million. The number of tests cancelled last year was 113,177 (presumably obtained from yet another freedom of information (FOI) muck-raking exercise). That’s less than 6% of all tests booked.
Just doing a bit of scouting around, and there is information suggesting that out of around 1.5 million hospital appointments in Northern Ireland in 2010, 80,000 were cancelled because a consultant wasn’t available. That’s just over 5%. In 2009, the NHS sickness absence level was 4.1% – ranging from 3.4% in London to 4.6% in the North East. Healthcare assistants averaged 6.2%, whereas medical and dental staff averaged 1.1%. Ambulance trusts averaged 5.2%. Strategic health authorities averaged 2.1%.
A look on the Office for National Statistics website shows that national average sickness levels fell from 3.5% in 2000 to 2.5% in 2010. It is obvious that the actual sickness rate for specific professions and jobs varies widely (the NHS ones were those I could find easily).
All you can say is that driving examiners are at the higher end, but nothing dramatic.
The DSA spokeswoman has it right when she says:
Driving tests are notoriously stressful for any learner. But this sickness record suggests that even the examiners are feeling the strain.
I also wonder how many tests are cancelled or not attended by the candidates themselves.