An Angus councillor is demanding more information on why the authority’s absence figures are so high.
The council’s sickness statistics were described as “atrocious” by David Fairweather, despite an improvement in the position from this time last year.
He told the council’s scrutiny and audit committee he wants to be updated on reasons for absences on a more regular basis, rather than having to wait for the publication of an official annual report.
The request came in the wake of a report to the council’s scrutiny and audit committee.
The document, compiled by strategic director of resources Mark Armstrong, revealed that 14,235 working days were lost by the council in the first three months of 2013 due to staff absences across all departments.
Of that number local government employees accounted for 11,634 and teachers took 2,601. An average of 2.66 days were lost per council employee across the whole authority for the first three months of 2013.
Absences of one day accounted for 4.93% of total days lost and absences of more than 20 days accounted for almost half.
Despite the increase in figures, the numbers for January to the end of March were actually down in comparison to the same period in 2012.
Carnoustie councillor Craig Fotheringham said: “I’m quite pleased to see this. There are procedures in place to address the level of sickness which are obviously working. It’s 800 days less than the previous year. However, what this doesn’t show is what the financial costs are to the council.”
Despite the dip in figures, three departments showed an increase in the number of days lost during the first three months of 2013 compared to the same period last year. They included the chief executive’s office, infrastructure services and the social work and the health department.
Corporate services, education and neighbourhood services helped bring the overall figure down by reducing their absences.
Mr Fairweather slammed the figures and said councillors need to be told why people are off more often.
He said: “I think they (the figures) are still atrocious to be perfectly honest. Can this committee be told what the main reasons are? Is it stress or is it work-related?”
Convener Bob Spink said that the committee receives information on the reasons for absences in an annual report but Mr Fairweather said that this should be provided on a quarterly basis.
Mr Armstrong said his team would look into that possibility and report back to the committee.