The average number of days taken off sick was 6.7 in 2007, compared with seven days a year earlier, while the cost to industry fell by £13.4 billion to £13.2 billion.

The CBI said its study showed that the gulf between absence rates in the public and private sectors grew to a record level, with public sector workers taking an average of nine days off sick compared with 5.8 for those in private firms.

172 million

The number of working days lost to absence was 172 million, three million fewer than in 2006, although the CBI said 21 million of these involved workers pulling a "sickie".

The cost to the economy of fake illness was £1.6 billion, with most employers believing some workers called in sick so they could extend a holiday or weekend.

Long-term absence of 20 days or more accounted for 40% of all time lost.
Susan Anderson, the CBI's Director of Human Resources Policy, said: "Everyone agrees that sick people need time off work.

But employers face two serious and expensive challenges - dealing with bogus sick days, and helping those with long-term illness return to work when they are fit to do so.

"People who awarded themselves sickies to enjoy the recent sunny weather or to extend a weekend away are acting unfairly, leaving their colleagues to pick up their work, and costing taxpayers and employers over a billion pounds a year."