Direct cost of South Ayrshire staff absences hits £7m but real cost is 'unknown'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The 'direct cost' of staff absences at South Ayrshire Council was more than £7m in 2023/24, but the true cost is unknown, the council HR chief has admitted.That is despite an overall fall in the proportion of absences per member of staff and South Ayrshire Council having the lowest rates of absence among comparative authorities, including both its Ayrshire neighbours.There was a 16 per cent rise in the direct cost of absence among teaching staff, increasing from £1.572m in 2022/23 to £1.838m in 2023/24.The increase in non-teaching staff cost was less pronounced, with a nine per cent increase from £4.738m in 2022/23 to £5.21m in 2023/24.The 'direct cost' is calculated as the wages paid to staff when they are absent through sickness.The average number of days lost per employee dropped by 9.01 days, or five per cent between 2022/23 and 2023/24.The main reasons for absence were psychological, musculoskeletal and hospitalisation, which replaced respiratory issues as the third-most common reason.Around three-quarters of absences are categorised as long term.Alba councillor Chris Cullen asked Chief Human Resources Officer Wendy Wesson for more information on the cost and budget implications.She explained that the amount referred to in the report was not an additional cost and that they did not calculate any other absence costs as each service deals with it in a different way.She said: "We don't record the hidden costs of absence because we don't have that facility to record and report that."There are a number of ways services cover absence.

Some don't cover absence, and it's existing staff that that pick up on activities of work."Particularly within education, health and social care partnership, anything that's front line, you