Council’s £ 3.3m for 31,000 days on sick

Sick days at South Ayrshire Council have cost the taxpayer a whopping £ 3.3million – in just 10 months.

More than 31,000 absences have been racked up by workers since last April.

Psychological problems were ranked as the main reason preventing staff from clocking on.

Latest figures show the council’s environmental team has suffered the brunt of lost hours, with 12,351 days gone.

And staff in the health and social care partnership are averaging almost three weeks on the shelf at 14 working days.

Teachers have posted 4385 absences – an average of less than five days per employee.

Musculoskeletal damage and hospitalisation also rank among the main reasons given for absences, of which 66 per cent were regarded as “long- term”.

The council’s average employee absence for the period April 1,2016 to January 31, 2017 stands at nine days.

The cleanest bill of health was reported by the council’s top earning CEO team, where an average of just 1.22 days were lost.

And despite the figures, council bosses insist their record IS improving, with more of their 5000+ employees at their work than five years ago.

Kate O’Hagan, council HR chief, said: “We are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our workforce and have a number of policies and supports in place to maximise employee attendance.

“In recent years, we have introduced more robust monitoring and reporting arrangements which have resulted in a reduction in the number of working days lost due to sickness absence.

“Measured against other councils this has delivered significant results, with South Ayrshire rising from 25th of 32, to ninth between 2011 and 2016.

“We continue to closely monitor employee attendance levels and take all appropriate steps to ensure appropriate standards.”