Council reveal sick day statistics for staff

More than half of West Lothian Council’s 8,000 employees were off sick for one or more days last year new figures show.

Council statistics show this was double the target for absences and a climb in absences since the previous year during the covid pandemic.

The target is to have no more than 3.6 per cent of staff absent across all seven areas of council operations.

From April to December last year the figure was 6.29 per cent.

The average length of long-term absence during the period was 64 days, with the longest absence lasting 196 days.

Mental and behavioural reasons account for almost 30 per cent of all absence from the council and almost 40 per cent of long-term absence.

Further broken down, those reasons are predominantly stress, work and personal, which accounted for 9,124 days, with 32 per cent being long term, and personal stress which accounted for 6,462 days with 21 per cent long term. Work-only stress lost 1,425 days with 4.65 per cent of those long-term.

Worst affected in council services was Education with 29,885 days lost, of those 17,987 (60.19 per cent) were due to long-term absence and were accounted for by 313 employees.

Of the total number of 25,043 days lost in Operational Services, 19,786 (79.01 per cent) of those days were due to long-term absence and were accounted for by 291 employees.

Long-term absence was also a feature in Housing, Customer and Building Services.

Of the total number of 12,920 days lost 9,933 (76.88 per cent) of those days were due to long-term absence and were accounted for by 159 employees.

In Social Policy which saw 82 per cent of lost days to long-term sickness and were accounted for by 229 employees.

Planning, Economic Development and Regeneration saw the fewest days lost.