01 February 2008
Staff in Northern Ireland councils are 50% more likely to take sick leave than those who work for English local authorities, the Northern Ireland Audit Office has found.
On average, council workers in the province each took 13.8 days off in 2006/07, at a cost of £15m annually. However, there is a big variation between local authorities.
In the three-year period 2004 to 2007, the average in Larne was more than 20 days per staff member, but in Magherafelt it was a little over seven — the average for all UK employment.
According to the NIAO, the three councils with the highest level of stress-related absenteeism — Larne, Ballymoney and Craigavon — have not implemented a stress or mental health policy.
Derry City Council, one of the three councils with the highest rates of absenteeism, did not record reasons for staff absence until the current financial year.
Heather Moorhead, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, said the Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland was working on new protocols for dealing with absences.
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