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If you woke up this morning and thought about calling in sick, you are not alone.

Today (Monday, February 5) is the most likely day for UK workers to shirk their employment responsibilities and fake illness for an extra unofficial holiday.

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Known as National Sickie Day, today will see up to 350,000 workers across Britain call in sick - more than any other day in the year.

And the number is expected to be higher than previous years due to it falling after the Super Bowl Sunday in addition to it being the first Monday after both Dry January and the first pay day after Christmas.

This is fuelled by the fact that over 5 million British workers have admitted that they hate their jobs.

Interestingly, around a quarter of February’s job interviews also take place today - the result of new year career change plans.

The UK wide phenomenon costs the economy around £45m in lost wages, hours and overtime.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show more than 130 million days are lost every year to sickness absence.

ACAS calculates that the total cost of workplace absenteeism to the UK economy each year is £17 billion.

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Who is most likely to pull a sickie?

According to healthcare provider Benenden, younger employees and those working in the public sector are more likely to take a sick day.

Older employees are less likely to take days off sick than their younger colleagues, and women are more likely to call in sick than men. But men are more likely to call in sick when feeling tired, under the weather or hungover when compared to women.

The younger the worker they more likely they are to have have taken five days five sick days in the last year and admitted that they could have gone into work for one or more of those days compared to those in older age brackets.

However, research of 1,000 working British people by FreeAgent, found that 7% of Welsh workers intend to ditch their current jobs completely and take the plunge in starting their own business in 2018.

Over 1.4 million people currently work in Wales, and according to the Welsh Government, this means 99,085 more are expected to become their own boss before the start of 2019.

More women than men plan to set up their own business in 2018 (13% in comparison to 9% of men). And overall, 52% of women dream of becoming their own boss in comparison with 46% of their male counterparts.

The most acceptable excuses

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A survey by AXA PPP Healthcare, conducted last year, spoke to 1,000 bosses to ask them what excuses they are most likely to believe.

According to the survey, these are the top 10 excuses for taking the day off:

Flu

Back pain

Injury by accident

Stress

Elective surgery

Depression

Anxiety

Common cold

Migraine

None of the above

Only 42% of the senior managers polled said flu is a serious enough reason for an employee to be absent from work, with 39 per cent concurring that back pain is also sufficiently serious.

Top 10 worst excuses used last year:

(Image: OJO Images RF Getty Images)

1. I have to move house today and only found out last night

2. I’ve broken my fingernail and my finger is sore

3. My daughter has booked for me to go to the Emmerdale set today as a Christmas gift

4. There’s a mouse in my kitchen, I’m terrified of it and have to find a way to get it out

5. I fell off a stepladder while getting boxes out of the loft and injured my arm. I could have broken the fall but didn’t want to damage the Christmas decorations

6. I’m unable to come to work today as the sun is making me feel sick

7. My dog has heatstroke

8. I’ve got indigestion

9. I’m too sunburnt

10. I went to a wedding over the weekend and am still too hungover

Emma O’Leary from employment law experts ELAS Group who first highlighted the phenomenon in 2011 said: “These excuses might sound weird and wonderful but they are all genuine reasons we have heard from our clients over the last year.

“As an employer you are perfectly entitled to challenge the authenticity of an absence; if an excuse seems too far-fetched then ask for evidence if appropriate.”