Sandwell Council staff warned over sickies

Council workers in Sandwell have been warned to cut their sick days from an average of 9.66 days a year. Five thousand letters have been sent to staff.

The letters tell them to improve their attendance levels.

But the move cost taxpayers £1,260 for second class postage and a further £840 in printage costs.

Critics say it would have been cheaper to send emails or telephone staff.

Cathi Dodd, from the authority's improvement and efficiency directorate, said: "It is anticipated that the cost of the letters will be recouped by the reduction in sickness absence.

"The letters were sent out on March 9 and there was a 27 per cent reduction in the number of new calls received by the sickness referral scheme during the week following."

But Councillor Ray Nock questioned why other methods of communication were not used.

He said: "Most private sector firms use much cheaper methods, like a phone call or email maybe followed by a return-to-work interview.

"I also worry employee time to undertake this exercise has also not been considered."

Council chief executive Jan Britton said :"Cool heads and sensible policies have never been more important to local councils than they are today.

"We have less money to spend each year but the demands we have to meet are growing all the time under the pressures of recession, unemployment and an ageing population.

"At Sandwell we are modernising the council to meet these pressures. We are trying to continue providing the services people need in ways that cost less money, instead of having to cut them altogether.

"Practically every council policy has been reviewed in one way or another. Like a lot of people and organisations, we are trying to make the best we can of the difficult times we are in.

"Among the policies we have reviewed are those that relate to sickness absence by employees.

Along with other councils, in the past Sandwell suffered from high rates of sickness absence. There were many reasons for this – but none of them are because council employees are "skivers" as I was misreported as saying in Tuesday's Express & Star – and things are changing:

"In 2007 the average number of sick days per employee was just under 13. In 2010 this was down to nine-and-a-half. This year we are forecasting it will be eight days or less.

"This compares with the best in the public sector and we are on track to get our sickness level down to between six-and-a-half and seven days in 2013, which will be similar to many private companies.

"We are doing this through proper management of sickness absence and by encouraging employees to stay well despite the changes they are dealing with at work and home and the uncertainties over their future prospects as budget cuts force the council to reduce the number of people it employs.

"When employees are sick we are trying to support them back to health and work as quickly as possible.

"There may be a very small number of employees who think they can throw a sickie whenever it suits them, but they are few and far between, and we are dealing with them.

"The vast majority of council employees are hard-working and dedicated people and it is only through their commitment that we have been able to make the improvement we have made over the last two years.

"I would like to take this opportunity to publicly say thank you to them."