NEARLY half of sickness at a council beset by staff taking days off is down to stress, new figures have revealed.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has reported that the condition is behind 42 per cent of all absenteeism -- much of it from 'outside influences.'

Last year, the council lost about 65,100 working days through staff sickness among its 5,055 full-time employees.

In some departments, staff took, on average, 22 days off a year on top of their holiday entitlement -- among the worst figures in the country.

The situation prompted one Lib Dem councillor, Paul Browne, to accuse some workers of being skivers.

The council has already earmarked £70,000 to tackle issues surrounding staff sickness.

John Connolly, director of human resources at Capita, the firm which provides many of the council's administrative services, said: "Stress is the reason for absence in 42 per cent of cases.

"Work is now being undertaken to see if stress is perceived to be coming from work or outside. The council's occupational health counselling service will assist managers in this."

A meeting of the corporate resources overview and scrutiny committee was told that there did not appear to be a link with staff shortages in some departments and absenteeism.

If staff regularly call in sick, they will be referred to the council's occupational therapist. If that fails to find out what is wrong, they face losing their jobs. All sickness will be monitored and any patterns -- such as a member of staff taking Mondays off regularly -- will trigger an interview with a manager.

Donna Hall, executive director for resources at the council, said: "We will do all we can to help staff."

A survey carried out by the Confederation of British Industry has revealed that the average person now takes 10 days a year off work, with stress the main cause.

Campaigning medical body the Doctor Patient Partnership, found in a survey that 75 per cent of people thought work-related stress was a fact of life.

The DPP has launch a campaign to help people recognise and manage their stress, particularly if it is related to work. Part of the campaign will be a 'note for employers' from their GPs, to outline general measures which can be used to reduce workers' stress.

Dr Simon Fradd, chairman of the DPP, said: "Stress is the second biggest cause of sickness absence days of employees in the UK."

He added that employees should be encouraged to speak about what they perceive to be the source of stress, which is often related to work, and also consider taking short breaks to get away from that source.