Issue - meetings

The Deputy Chief Executive /  Director of Customer & Corporate Services to present a report which provides an update on current activities to manage attendance and support well-being across the council, and asks Executive to support a dedicated team for a two-year period to achieve a reduction in absence levels.

Resolved:  (i)      That approval be given to engage with an external provider, as outlined in Option 2, to provide a dedicated service (selected through the council’s procurement process) for a 2 year period, to reduce sickness absence.

                   (ii)      That the use of £180k from the council’s venture fund be authorised for this purpose.

Reason:     To support the council in achieving a one-third reduction in its sickness absence rates by April 2021 and to transfer skills and knowledge to internal managers during this period.

The Deputy Chief Executive / Director of Customer & Corporate Servicespresented a report which provided an update on current activities to manage attendance and support well-being across the council and proposed arrangements to appoint a dedicated team to achieve a reduction in absence levels.

Despite the measures already introduced, as outlined in paragraphs 5 to 8 of the report, sickness levels across the council had increased from 10.2 days in 2016/17 to 11.5 days in 2017/18.  Details were provided in paragraphs 13 to 20, with a breakdown of variations across departments in Appendix 1. 

It was proposed to set a target to reduce sickness absence figures by a third, to align them more closely with the public sector average of 8.5 days per annum, by means of a dedicated team to focus on attendance.  Two options were available, as detailed in paragraphs 34-36:

Option 1 – an in-house team, with staff employed by the council.

Option 2 – external provision by a specialist company.  This was the recommended option, as it would achieve the target sooner.

In response to comments made under Public Participation and questions from Members, officers accepted that a further discussion should have taken place with union representatives on the proposals and confirmed that unions would be involved in the process going forward.  Concerns were raised that a ‘100% risk’ contract, as mentioned in paragraph 36 of the report, could provide a financial incentive to return unwell staff to work prematurely.

Resolved:  (i)      That approval be given to engage with an external provider, as outlined in Option 2, to provide a dedicated service (selected through the council’s procurement process) for a 2 year period, to reduce sickness absence, with the caveat that a contract with 100% risk to the provider be avoided.

Reason:     To support the council in achieving a one-third reduction in its sickness absence rates by April 2021 and to transfer skills and knowledge to internal managers during this period.