Liberal Democrat Leader “exceptionally concerned” at Oldham Council staff sickness absences
Cllr Howard Sykes
The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes, has written to the newly-appointed Chief Executive of Oldham Council, Dr Carolyn Wilkins, to inform her that he is “exceptionally concerned” at the level of sickness absences amongst Council staff.
Information recently made publicly available shows that in the last year 19,059 days of absences were recorded amongst 3,560 Council staff; an average of almost 5.5 days each. This is higher than the UK national average; in February, the Office of National Statistics reported that overall absences across the UK have dropped from 7.3 days per annum to 4.4 days per annum over the last decade.
In his letter, Cllr Sykes says that the cost of sickness absences represent “big figures at a time when the authority must look to squeeze best value out of every penny of its expenditure”.
Cllr Sykes states that not only do staff absences put more pressure on “conscientious and hard-working staff that remain at their posts,” but they cost the authority – and ultimately Oldham’s Council Tax payers – £3.85million per annum extra in employing agency staff to provide cover.
Cllr Sykes says that he is “as one” with Council Leader Cllr Jim McMahon in seeking to “clamp down” on sickness absence, but cannot understand why – when the Labour Administration has agreed with trades unions that sickness would be more pro-actively and routinely managed – “almost 58% of employees were not obliged to attend a Back to Work interview – a measure designed specifically to identify the underlying reasons for absence and to address unacceptably persistent absenteeism?”
In closing, Cllr Sykes states in his letter that he seeks early comments and an in-depth discussion with the Chief Executive on this issue “as to what further immediate measures are now to be put in place to reduce sickness absences in the current financial year”.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
If you would like to share an interesting story, achievement, photo or something you just want to happily shout about please send it in an email to hello@saddleworthlife.com We'd ❤ to hear from you!!
