05 August 2005
The joint government/trade union body the Public Services Forum has swung into action to set up two panels to assess problematic sickness absence and diversity issues.
Cabinet Office sources said the two working groups were endorsed at a PSF meeting, overseen by forum chair and Cabinet Office minister John Hutton, last month. Both sides have agreed to produce ideas on tackling and managing rising sickness absence levels amid government concern that absence rates in some parts of the public sector are twice as high as in the private sector. They will report back to the next PSF meeting in October.
The forum was set up after the Warwick agreement in 2003 between the Labour Party and the unions to improve communication and avoid the damaging disputes that marked the early years of the Labour government.
Many ministries, including the Department for Work and Pensions, have poor sickness absence records. In 2003, DWP staff took an average of 12.9 days off work, compared with 6.7 days in the private sphere.
Public Finance understands that the Cabinet Office wants to use incentive systems similar to those being trialled at the Post Office to improve attendance, including prizes or bonuses for staff with exemplary records.
But Rachael McIlroy, public sector policy officer at the Trades Union Congress, said that the TUC would oppose such moves. She added that the PSF would not simply be looking at improving attendance. 'It will also study the potential for improved workforce flexibility, assessing practices that have been used by employers elsewhere to improve work-life balance, for example,' she said.
Among other things, the diversity panel will discuss why many public sector employers have failed to produce effective diversity programmes despite pressure from senior ministers and government officials.
Meanwhile, the TUC has published the provisional motions for its annual congress in September.
The spectre of national strike action looms over government plans to force public sector employees to work to 65 and possible changes to the structure of pension schemes across local government, the civil service, health and education.
But delegates will also debate transport safety amid heightened fears over terrorism in London and elsewhere. Other main issues to be discussed include the government's civil service job cuts programme.
PFaug2005
