Sickness tops £4m
Teacher numbers are the best
Staff sickness at South Ayrshire Council is costing more than £4 million per year, new figures have revealed.
The bill for absent workers comes on the back of 42,736 days lost during the last 12 months.
Employees recorded an average of nine days on the sick during 2017/18.
Psychological reasons (30 per cent) were cited as the leading cause for absence, followed by musculoskeletal (19 per cent) and hospitalisation (12 per cent).
By far the biggest service to feel the strain was the Health and Social Care Partnership, where an average of 16 days per employee was lost.
Teachers, who account for 23 per cent of the council’s workforce, were the best performing ‘directorate’ with a loss of just five days per worker.
All figures were recorded between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018.
Council officials said trends were showing a “gradual and consistent improvement”.
An average of 11.7 days were lost to absence by local government employees (all staff bar teachers) in 2010.
The revised figure stands at 10.06 days for 2017/18.
A council spokesman said they were “committed” to supporting staff and have a “number of policies and supports in place to maximise employee attendance”.
They added: “In recent years, more robust monitoring and reporting arrangements have been introduced which have seen a steady improvement in this area, with our figures below the national average.
“We continue to closely monitor employee attendance levels and take all appropriate steps to ensure appropriate standards.”