LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - British workers took the most sick leave in more than a decade during the past year, a survey of employers showed on Tuesday, adding to signs of a lasting increase in ill health since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said a survey of several hundred employers showed the average employee took 7.8 days of sick leave during the past year. External factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have had profound impacts on many people's wellbeing," said Rachel Suff, the CIPD's senior employee wellbeing advisor. Public-sector staff took over two weeks' sick leave on average, nearly twice as much as employees in private-sector services firms. More than a third of employers said COVID-19 remained a significant cause of short-term absence, although minor illnesses, injuries and mental ill health were all more common reasons.

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Persons: Rachel Suff, David Milliken, William James Our Organizations: Chartered Institute, Personnel, Public, National Statistics, Thomson