Agenda item

Further to minute 7.2 of the meeting held on the 21^st March 2018 the Committee considered a report which provided sickness absence data for the 2017/18 financial year. The data indicated that since 2016/17 there had been an overall reduction in the number of days lost per full time equivalent (FTE) from 10.76 days in 2016/17 to 10.15 days during 2017/18. Overall, however, the target of 9.6 days per FTE, which had been set by Corporate Management Team to support a reduction in absence, had not been met. The report also provided information in relation to the initiatives introduced during the year to support attendance management within schools and council departments. These included:

·         Introduction of the Schools’ Staff Absence Scheme to all primary schools;

·         Positive Attendance Management Conference for all Carmarthenshire Head Teachers and Chairs of Governing Bodies;

·         Ongoing delivery of the Attendance Management development programme to all Head Teachers and Chairs of Governing Bodies;

·         Establishment of the Challenge & Review Attendance Forum, chaired by the Deputy Leader;

·         Improved management information, benchmarking and ranking data;

·         Signing of the TUC Charter “Dying to Work Campaign” aimed at supporting employees with a terminal illness;

·         Maintaining the Council’s accreditation as a Disability Confident Employer.

The report also provides detailed information relating to Cost of absence, Employee Wellbeing data, Number of employees dismissed on the grounds of health capability, Main causes of absence, Sector comparisons and All Wales comparisons (2016/17).

The following issues were raised on the report:

·         The Assistant Chief Executive [People Management] agreed that members should be kept apprised of any issues arising from sickness absence in their local schools;

·         It was queried as to whether schools could consider using ‘locums’ to cover staff absence through sickness thus bypassing the use of agencies. In response the Committee was informed that Welsh Government had recently funded the employment of 3 newly qualified teachers to provide planned, not sickness, cover within the Llanelli cluster of schools but it was considered that it could provide an opportunity to test the possibility of such an initiative being set up to provide sickness cover;

·         The Assistant Chief Executive [People Management] suggested that where there were continued concerns over the levels of sickness absence the Committee might wish to invite the relevant Head of Service to a meeting to explain the situation and outline any remedial action. He added that the Corporate Management Team and Departmental Management Teams received Data Management Reports which were able to pinpoint sickness ‘hot spots’ and patterns with a view to any issues being addressed.The Committee might also wish to consider asking Heads of Service to submit reports to future meetings outlining the positive impact and initiatives in order for good practice be shared ;

·         Reference was made to the extensive training given to managers on sickness management and the comprehensive information available to staff on the intranet;

·         The question was asked as to whether reduced staffing levels in certain areas could be linked with an increase in staff absence due possibly to a greater workload and stress on remaining staff;

·         It was acknowledged that targets relating to sickness absence management needed had to be realistic but challenging;

·         The Employee Wellbeing Manager agreed to provide greater detail with regard to the number of employees supported by the Occupational Health Centre in future reports;

·         In response to a question the Assistant Chief Executive [People Management] stated that the issue of staff recognition for long service was due to be looked at by the recently established People’s Strategy Board;

·         In response to a comment that staff should be encouraged to have flu jobs it was stated that information was available to staff but it was a matter for each individual.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

5.1 that the report be received and that comparators be shown as percentages in future reports;

5.2 that arrangements be made for a further Member Development Session on Sickness Absence Monitoring with a view to members being apprised of the type of sickness data circulated to Departmental Management Teams.