Issue - meetings

SICKNESS ABSENCE PERFORMANCE 2020/21

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Organisational Development.

The Head of Organisational Development spoke to the report which outlined sickness absence performance for 2020/21, the continued actions to support improvement in attendance and recognise the positive attendance of the majority of the workforce. It was reported that the overall year end outturn figure for the Council of 11.67 days per full time employee (9.98 days excluding COVID-19 sickness). This was a decrease from the previous year’s outturn of 13.91 days (13.48 days excluding COVID-19 sickness). The Head of Organisational Development advised that the outturn exceeded the target set of
10.50 days. It was added that when sickness absence related to COVID–19 had been excluded the outturn figure reduced to 9.98 days which was an overall reduction of 3.93 days bringing the outturn figure below the corporate target. The Head of Organisational Development added that Quarter 1 figures for this financial year are showing an increase in sickness and it was understood that other Councils are experiencing a similar trend in performance.

The Deputy Leader recognised the challenges within the workforce which had been experienced by all Councils due to the pandemic. The Deputy Leader felt that the robust recording and monitoring of sickness in place which was paramount as well as support for staff’s health and well being.

RESOLVED that the report be accepted and the ongoing actions to support improvement in attendance (Option 2).