Sickness costs council £2.4m over six months with winter impact still to hit home

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Sickness absences cost South Ayrshire Council almost £2.4million in six months - with the full impact of winter still to come.A total of 22,238 days were 'lost' due to sickness between April and September 2022.This is around half of the days lost for the whole of 2021/22.

However, is expected that the figures for the second half of the year will rise above last year's levels, with winter months typically seeing a significant increase in illnesses.Councillors will hear about the absence rates at their first meeting of the Service and Performance panel on Tuesday, January 10.One study even designated a 'National Sickie Day' to the date expected to have the highest number of unplanned absences.

This year that date is Monday February 6.In 2021/22, employees were absent for an average of 9.59 days, an increase from 7.4 days in 2020/21.

For the first six months of 2022, that figure is 4.68 days.The figure of £2.4m relates to the pay for employees on sickness leave and does not account for the amount spent on cover, such as overtime and temporary staff.Workers in the council's place, covering the likes of roads, waste management and maintenance, accounted for 32 percent of all sick leave between April and September.The service saw average number of sick days rise from 6.26 days in 2021/22 to 12.77 in 2022/23.Similarly Health and Social Care staff accounted for 31 percent of sick leave, with average sick days rise from 9 in 2021/22, to 15.2 in 2022/23 so far.South Ayrshire Council's workforce is split into Local Government Employees (LGEs) and teaching staff.Despite making up 75 percent of the council's workforce, LGEs accounted for just under 90 percent of sickness absences, an increase of four percent on 2021/22.Around 30 per