Council hit by soaring absence rates
Absence rates among council workers have soared to their highest level in years, a new report reveals.
The number of missed days from work has reached more than 10 days per council employee in Renfrewshire.
This bursts the authority’s own sickness targets by more than one day lost for every worker.
A report going before Renfrewshire’s Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board next week, shows 10.19 days are being lost per full-time worker, shattering the council’s own estimate of 8.96 days by 1.23 days for each employee in the period up to March, this year.
This is the highest absence figure since 2010- 11, when the council lost 10.12 days per worker and ranked it 23rd out of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.
And the sick- note bill to the taxpayer has already reached a staggering £ 1,548,588 in the last financial quarter, with teachers accounting for £352,501 and council workers costing £1,196,057.
The council department with the highest rate of absence is the Health and Social Care Partnership where staff racked up 3.65 days lost per employee in the quarter up to the end of March 2017.
This department includes social workers and those working with vulnerable adults, drug and alcohol addictions and domestic violence counsellors.
Staff working in the chief executive’s office are next highest in absence rates, with 3.41 days lost per full time worker.
Employees working in community resources, including bin men, cemetery and park workers, were the third most likely to call in sick, with 3.34 days missed per staffer, in the first three months of 2017.
However, absence rates among teachers slogging away in the classrooms have actually come down in the latest period with 5.37 days lost per educator, which is well down from 7.67 days in the period 2012-13, and 6.6 days in 2013-14.
The report states: “The council has recorded an overall absence rate of 10.19 days lost per FTE employee for the quarters ending 30th June 2016 to 31st March 2017, which is 1.23 days above the target figure of 8.96 days.
“In addition the teacher absence level of 5.37 days lost per FTE employee is also 2.31 days below the target of 7.68 days.”
However, the report adds: “The ranking information for 2014/ 2015 showed an improvement in both teachers (from 20th to 12th) and local government employees (from 10th to 9th).
“However, this performance has not been sustained for 2015/16.
“Teachers now rank 18th and Local Government Employees to 15th.”
The main reasons for staff calling in sick, at 22 per cent, were psychological ( nonwork related) illness and musculoskeletal and joint disorders, at 18 per cent.
Council bosses say they have in place a range of measures to help their employees and they have a range of guidelines to assist managers in providing support to their workers.
A council spokesman said: “Overall, our absence figures are in line with the average for Scottish councils – 15th out of 32 for non- teaching employees, and 18th out of 32 for teachers.
“There has been a slight increase year- on- year in the overall days of absence per fulltime equivalent employee.
“That is equivalent to 0.71 of a day per employee per year.
“The figures for teacher absence have continued a fiveyear trend of reduced absence. The most up to date figures for the most recent quarter show a reduced level of absence.
“If people have personal or work-related issues, they can get employee counselling.
“Referrals to occupational health services are also available.
“These are designed to stop problems escalating.
“There is also guidance and training for managers to help identify health and wellbeing issues at an early stage and put appropriate assistance in place.”
If people have personal or work-related issues, they can get employee counselling