Questions raised over rising council sick days

More information is to be shared with councillors about growing staff sickness rates at an authority.

Recently data revealed Warwickshire County Council staff missed 15,001 days of work due to stress and mental health issues in 2023-24 - more than a third of total staff absences.

It was the reason given for 40% of the absent days in the children and young people and social care and health directorates – departments facing growing demands.

While the rise was not different to any current national trends, the council said, a report highlighting problem areas and the support being offered will be produced for committee members.

The figures were discussed at the council’s resources and fire and rescue overview and scrutiny committee meeting this week.

Overall, they showed absence rates were creeping up, with the average number of sick days for a full-time equivalent council employee at 9.86 per year.

The authority's target for sick days per staff member is eight, with a tolerance of one either way.

The figure was 9.16 in September 2023 and 8.99 a year ago, councillors heard.

The council describes itself as a large employer with over 5,000 employees.

Councillor Tim Sinclair said he wanted to know if pressures were increasing in certain departments and "what the story is there".

Bal Jacob, the council’s director of workforce and local services, said they recognised sickness had increased but understood where the challenges were and where improvements and more support were needed, which was "in place".

“We are doing a lot more awareness sessions particularly around mental health and wellbeing," she added.

“Our trend isn’t different to any national trends at the moment, we are not an outlier in that sense but we are doing whatever we can to try to reduce our levels.”

Mr Sinclair said he could see "there is a lot of work going into helping people".

"There may be value in this committee having a deeper understanding of what is being done so we look after them," he added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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