Sick leave for civil servants is more than 300 years

SCOTLAND’s bureaucrats have taken more than three centuries’ worth of sick days in just three years, shocking new figures have revealed.

According to official statistics more than 110,000 working days have been lost to sickness between 2013 and 2016 – the equivalent of 303 years.

Last year alone, civil servants phoned in sick 37,799 times as Government chiefs were forced to draft in an average of 110 short-term staff every month to plug gaps across its workforce.

Bureaucrats in some departments were found to be taking an average of more than a fortnight off in sick days every year, while the Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities directorate alone lost more than 6,000 working days to sickness.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act found that the number of sick days taken in 2016 was eight per cent higher than in 2013.

Officials claim that the figures are “less than the average” number of sick days taken by workers in the UK.

Critics have questioned whether these levels of absenteeism are sustainable while the Scottish Government is spending £6,500 every day on temporary staff.

Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: “This is undoubtedly a huge amount of time taken off, and something that should be monitored closely from now on. It does suggest that workers are being put under intense strain, which has a negative effect on their health.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government works proactively and continuously to improve the level of sickness absence.”