My missus is in HR for a large company and the amount of people off sick is ridiculous. You can get between 6 and 12 months paid with the company for it.
There's clearly a big mental health crisis in the UK and every time I come back the whole place just feels depressed. A lot of the people off work with sickness are off with mental health issues. You have then got those physically sick, and certainly a chunk that are just bone-idol as well. I say this from seeing it first hand, but also my missus who tells me there are a lot of people that they have to investigate because it turns out they are faking it. There's a lot of time spent investigating the large amount of people off sick, and for good reason.