Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority took 25,887 sick days last year, the UK regulator’s worst set of figures for six years and more than 60% higher than the national average, raising concerns about morale.

The regulator lost more than 100 years of working days to sickness absence in 2018, figures obtained by Financial News via a freedom of information request show. The watchdog's employees took almost 500 sick days per week last year, almost twice as high as the London average.