More days lost to mental health

SOLIHULL Council staff are six times more likely to take time off with mental health issues than they are with a cold or the flu, the latest figures show.

The total number of sick days across the organisation has fallen, but senior officers want to see further reductions.

Figures show that absence averages out at 9.87 days a year per fulltime employee, down from a peak of 11.75 just over a year ago.

Mental health remains the single biggest reason for people missing time and is cited in more than a third (36 per cent) of cases.

Stress, depression and anxiety dwarfed other issues. By comparison operations or medical treatment made up 11 per cent and cold/flu just 6.5 per cent.

Adrian Cattell, the council’s head of human resources, said: “Clearly the figures are higher than where we would like them to be. The corporate leadership team set a target of nine days, I think it was a particularly challenging target bearing in mind where we were at the time. But we have made great strides towards getting to that level.”

On the specific issue of people being off with conditions including stress and anxiety, Cllr Wazma Qais (Con, Silhill) had asked if Solihull had followed the example of other employers in introducing mental health first-aiders.

“They will be like the initial point of contact for anybody who was to have any issue and they would then signpost them to support services available,” she said.