8,000 days lost in council sickies

Staff taking time off sick from Oldham Council cost the equivalent of 36 full-time employees, or 8,000 lost working days, last year.

Absences cost the council more than £900,000 a year and the aim is to get average days lost down to 8.3 by March, 2010.

A new strategy for managing absence has brought average sickness absence down from 11.5 days in 2007/8 to a forecast of 10.5 days for 2008/9.

The improvement follows new measures including a new occupational health scheme, fast-tracked physiotherapy, a new pilot scheme for reporting absences, and better contract management arrangements.

Councillors heard that the improved figures will mean a saving of £783,000 on last year. Managers will get mandatory training on improving attendance, starting this month and going on until May.

The improvements were reported to councillors on the Performance and Value for Money Select Committee.

Sickness absence had been reducing from an average of 14.7 days in 2003/4, to 10.9 in 2006/7.

But it shot up again last year to 11.5 — mirrored in councils across the country, the committee heard. Now new ways of reporting sickness absence have been streamlined and senior managers have been told to put attendance management at the top of all their improvement plans.

Colin Burns, the council’s human resources manager, says the revised policies must include improvements to support staff health and well being, a more robust approach to monitoring sickness, and training for all managers involved.