Reference: FOI-2024-1811
You asked
I would like to make a freedom of information request for the standard deviation value for sickness absence days lost for men and women for those with a long term condition and those without.
I feel it is perfectly credible that he ONS will have this as they produce the statistics and it is of obvious value to those who may be considering sickness absence policies in the labour market.
We said
Thank you for your request.
In order to provide standard deviations for our Sickness absence in the UK labour market estimates, we would need to create new information involving statistical expertise and experience. This would involve bringing in methodology experts, Labour Force Survey experts, and creating a bespoke estimation system for this subset of estimates.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) does not require public authorities to create new information to answer FOI requests. This information therefore is not held.
Unfortunately, we are not in a position to offer to produce this information via our bespoke services, as the resource required to do so is not available.
However, we do publish high-level Labour Force Survey (LFS) sampling variability estimates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity on a monthly basis.
We also collaborated on a methodology working paper titled 'Guide to calculating standard errors for ONS Social Surveys', which is designed to assist users of the Office for National Statistics' (ONS's) social survey data in calculating standard.