09 July 2004
Whitehall staff have one of the worst attendance records in Britain, research from the UK's top human resources body has found.
Civil servants take an average of 11 days off sick each year – 40% more than the average of 7.8 days for the private sector and higher than that for most other public sector workers.
Only health workers take more sick days, an average of 11.6 a year. Most others take significantly fewer. Education staff, for example, lose just 9.6 days annually.
The figures, published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development just a week before Gordon Brown unveils his Spending Review, are an embarrassment for the government.
It set up a task force in 1998 to tackle high absence levels among central government staff. The institute's research shows that it has made little headway.
The chancellor has put a £20bn efficiency drive, led by former mandarin Sir Peter Gershon, at the heart of his plans for the next spending round.
But the CIPD report reveals that the average civil servant costs the government £709 each year through sickness absence. Across the public sector as a whole, the bill comes to almost £4bn annually.
Stress is the leading cause of illness among white-collar government workers, according to the research, with 56% citing it as the reason for taking time off.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, blamed employers for the high levels of absence in Whitehall. 'Matters are hardly helped by the bullying, hard-line approach of senior managers in departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions, and increasing workloads and job insecurity in the civil service,' he said.
He cited a long-term study into the effects of workplace stress on the health of civil servants, commissioned by the Council of Civil Service Unions. The project, which has tracked 10,308 Whitehall workers since 1985, found that badly handled organisational change increased rates of ill health among staff. Conversely, working with supportive managers and colleagues led to a reduction in absence levels.
The academics from University College, London, also found that employees reporting high workloads and limited satisfaction were at higher risk of coronary heart disease.
PCS prepares to fight DWP over changes
Whitehall's largest union has launched a ballot of no confidence in the Department for Work and Pensions' management following concerns over pay and 30,000 planned job cuts.
The Public and Commercial Services union, which has 95,000 members working in DWP agencies such as benefits and pensions offices, will run the ballot until July 26 as part of its build up to strike action on July 29 and 30.
One of the key sticking points in the PCS's relations with DWP managers has been a new performance and development scheme. This uses a quota system to determine performance-related pay – something the union sees as unfair and divisive.
But the ballot announcement followed news that benefits processing in Jobcentre Plus centres will be slashed from 650 sites into 100, while an overhaul of pension centres has also been planned.
Unions fear up to 11,000 of the 30,000 jobs identified for cuts by Chancellor Gordon Brown in this year's Budget could go in one fell swoop.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka accused DWP managers of 'bullying' and 'arrogance' in light of the pay dispute and cuts.
'Through blindly imposing pay deals and bonus schemes, which set staff against one another and presenting fait accompli closures and job cuts, staff morale has taken a hammering.
'This ballot is a chance for members to voice their anger and send a clear message to management.'
Mad cows and the ministry's failings
The Commons' Public Accounts Committee has attacked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for failing to learn the lessons of the repeated Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE) outbreaks.
The cattle tracing system brought in after the 1990s outbreak of 'mad cow' disease is, the MPs say, costly and inefficient, resulting in large numbers of cattle simply going missing as far as official records are concerned.
PAC chair Edward Leigh said: 'There is an urgent need for improvement in Defra's system for tracking livestock. The cattle tracing system in particular is inefficient, overly burdensome and based on obsolete technology.
'It does not fully meet the needs of state veterinarians to control outbreaks of infectious diseases amongst cattle, which is all the more unacceptable given that it was introduced in response to the BSE crisis in the 1990s.'
The system was developed in haste and has suffered from serious technical difficulties, the MPs say in a report published on July 6. Reducing errors through more efficient methods of notification could save the taxpayer around 15m a year, they say.
The government spends £30m a year in England on livestock identification and tracking. Yet poor communication with the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy subsidy databases has already incurred £14m in penalties, a bill that the MPs say could rise to £50m.
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