Angus Council bosses have cut nearly £500,000 off their annual absence bill after piloting a nurse hotline for workers to call in sick.
The authority’s sick pay cost dropped £493,000 last year to stand at £3.72m after the number of working days lost fell to 44,785 from 46,363.
Three-quarters of all absences are short-term of six days or less, with stress remaining the main reason for time off, accounting for on average 35% of all sickness.
Part of the success has been attributed to the new reporting scheme which has been piloted in a number of council departments over almost three years and is due for a fuller roll-out this month.
The Dayone system was introduced through the council’s occupational health provider in March 2017, with trained nurses take calls from employees calling in sick.
Fife Council has followed the innovative approach, but a leading union said other authorities remain sceptical of the scheme’s effectiveness.
Angus councillors have also said officials must maintain the effort to cut absence after an audit report cast doubt on the accuracy of statistics, and flagged up a “lack of consistency” in the authority’s approach across its range of services.
Its performance was part of a whole-council sickness absence report contained in an internal audit presented to scrutiny and audit councillors.
The data revealed sickness levels among council staff providing health and social care services staff remain “significantly higher” than for NHS workers doing the same job – 9% compared to 5%.
Audit chiefs have made six recommendations for actions, including a high-level requirement for absence statistics to be reviewed to ensure they can be relied upon.
Kirriemuir and Glens SNP councillor Julie Bell said while she was pleased to see improvement in some areas, the level of stress-related absence remained a concern.
“This is something we really need to keep our eye on,” she said.
Union Unison said it believed other authorities were “a bit more sceptical” about implementing the Dayone reporting scheme.
Regional organiser Mo Dickson said: “There have been a number of problems with the system, for example, with the reporting and sending on information to managers about someone’s sickness.
“In our view it’s way too early to make any predictions. I am not sure how the council can make these bold claims.”
An Angus Council spokesman said: “We are currently piloting the Dayone system. Thereafter, it will be fully evaluated and its future use considered. Evaluation will include assessing what contribution the system has made towards the reported reduced absence costs.”
A Fife council spokesperson said: “The approach used by Angus Council is currently being piloted with several staff groups in Fife Council.
“The pilot period continues until the end of March 2020. The evaluation will then look at savings on reduced sickness absence and the cost of providing this service to allow a decision to be made on adopting the model.”
A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “Dundee City Council continues to develop its programme of support for all employees with a positive focus on promoting health and attendance and promoting a mentally healthy workplace, including liaising with our occupational health provider for enhanced support measures.”
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said there are no plans to introduce the system there, adding: “It is felt that the current arrangements are working well”.
