It’s the busiest social time of the year, with many of us looking forward to catching up with family, friends and colleagues. Or are we? For a new study by Fisherman’s Friend suggests that as many as two out of five in the West Midlands (40.42%) will have no qualms about inventing or exaggerating minor ailments in order to get out of unwelcome parties and social functions this Christmas.

Indeed, as the nation heads into party season, more than half of those in the West Midlands who admitted to pulling a ‘social sickie’ in the last year (55.13%) said they had done so in order to avoid meeting up with friends, while it seems the office Christmas party is as dreaded as ever, with nearly half (46.15%) of social avoiders admitting to using non-existent ailments to dodge office socials.

Meanwhile, with Christmas Day and New Years’ Eve just around the corner, a fifth of those surveyed in Fisherman’s Friend’s Annual Cold & Flu Survey (20.51%) said they had lied to their own family about illness in order to duck out of a social meet up, while one in six (17.95%) said they had done the same to get out of meeting up with a partner’s family.

Sickies aren’t just reserved for social occasions, though, with one quarter (28.21%) of those faking illness having done so to get out of a work meeting, while one in six (17.95%) said they had used the tactic to dodge a dreaded gym session. 

The study of 2,000 UK adults also found that Welsh respondents were the most trustworthy when it came to fake illnesses, with only one in ten (28.43%) faking symptoms, in comparison to East Anglia, the region most likely to lie about their health with four in 10 (43.52%) of adults in the region admitting to doing so.

Women were most likely to lie or exaggerate symptoms with one in four (41.8%) doing so, compared with one in three (32.09%) men, although men were found to be most keen to avoid a work night out with two out of five (39.23%) using illness as an excuse, while women were most likely to avoid friends with six out of 10 (57.54%) regularly faking illness to cancel plans.