Clampdown on 'skivers'

A total of 65,108 working days are expected to be lost among Blackburn with Darwen Council's 5,055 full-time employees by the end of this financial year.

In some departments, staff are taking, on average, 22 days off a year on top of their holiday entitlement.

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

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.

And £70,000 has been put aside in this year's budget to fund a review into both pay and sickness.

Councillors on all sides welcomed the proposal today and said it was time some staff realised the council was not a 'soft-touch alternative' to working in the private sector.

Donna Hall, executive director for resources, said staff with legitimate illnesses had no reason to be concerned, but staff who regularly take days off for no apparent reason would face being dismissed. Staff in social services are averaging 20 days off a year.

Workers in direct services, the building and maintenance department, take an average of 16 days off.

But even the council's mainly office-based regeneration department is suffering from an average 22 days sick per employee a year.

For the whole council, the average, excluding teachers, is 12.8 days off a year.

This compares with a council target of 10 working days a year, Lancashire County Council's average of 8.9 days a year and the private-sector average of seven.

Social Services at Lancashire County Council clocks up an average of 15 days absence a year per employee, 25 per cent fewer than Blackburn with Darwen.

In 1999-00, the first year which Blackburn with Darwen Council compiled figures to Government standards, the average was 12 days.

The council was today unable to release figures for last year.

The national average for council employees is 10.9 days a year.

Donna Hall said: "Some of the levels are unacceptable but we expect higher levels in areas such as social services, where somebody might injure themselves lifting up an old person, or in Direct Services, where staff work in the elements all the time."

Coun Browne, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "There are some skivers in the council who think because they work for the local authority, it is a soft touch.

"You can't blame them for thinking that when they all got a £10 gift voucher at Christmas just for doing their job."

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration, said: "We are looking into why so much time is been taken off and what we can do to reduce it.

"It could be that some officers are suffering stress."

Coun Bill Taylor, leader of the council, said: "Although our figures may be average, there is always room for improvement."

Coun Colin Rigby, leader of the Conservatives, said: "Four million is a lot of money and 20 days a year for some departments is just ridiculous.

"Capita now provide many of the council's services and I have been told the sickness there averages 0.5 days a year."

A spokesman for Unison confirmed it was working with the council on sickness.

He added: "It is important that the causes of sickness be tackled and that people who are genuinely ill don't feel forced to go into work."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We have a Government-set target to reduce absenteeism to 9.1 days a year by 2004/05.

"We have already beaten that for last year, with an average of 8.91 days off a year."