COUNCILLORS want to cut the amount paid to staff on the first day of every sick break in a bid to cut absenteeism.

Tory councillors hope to push the new pay policy, which would need government approval, through the council's overview and scrutiny system to help stem the £4million-a-year bill for sick leave.

They believe that many staff are going off sick simply because they know they will get away with it because they work in the public sector, which traditionally has higher absenteeism than the private sector.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is trying to cut sick-leave, and had set itself a target of 8.2 days per member of staff for the financial year ending this month.

But instead of the rate falling, absenteeism is set to be higher than last year's rate of 10.94 days.

Coun Michael Lee, opposition spokesman for finance, said: "Of course there has to be support for people who are off on long-term sick but the offices of the council sometimes seem a lot quieter on Fridays and Mondays than they should be.

"I think there are people who do pull fast ones because it is a Friday or because they want to go shopping and when they do that, they put work on others and reduce the level of service offered.

"We want first day sick pay to be scrapped, other than the national minimum, and only repaid if the person is off for a length of time.

"Our priority has to be to the people of this borough."

Both Unison and the GMB unions said they would oppose such a move, claiming it doesn't happen anywhere else in the country.

And Coun John Milburn, in charge of finance at the council, said: "To say we have a staff made up of skivers and malingerers is wrong, although, as anywhere, there is a very small minority who do this."

Donna Hall, executive director for resources, added: "This would be a national first and I'm not sure how it would work."

The Tories plan to push the idea through from the corporate resources overview and scrutiny committee, which is drawing up proposals for reducing sick leave.