THE RISING cost of Lancashire police's sick leave bill is likely to top the £8million mark by the end of the financial year, it was revealed today.

Every month the bill for time lost through sickness for officers and civilian staff comes to around £700,000.

The force under chief constable Pauline Clare has introduced a range of measures to try and reverse the trend without success.

Latest statistics in a report to be discussed by the police authority's personnel committee next Tuesday show that the number of days lost through sickness is increasing by 0.25 per cent every

Despite repeated attempts to cut down the number of staff on sick leave in January of this year the cost topped £800,000 for a month for the first time ever.

Home Secretary Jack Straw and Blackburn MP has set force's tough targets but Lancashire's target level of days lost through sickness each month has not been met once in the past 12 months.

Measures introduced by bosses to cut down on the number of officers taking time off have included:

Taking into account sickness when people apply for promotion.

Case conferences on long term sickness cases.

The appointment of a force medical officer for police and support staff. A new system has been introduced for speeding up the time it takes to report people taking sick leave.

Lancashire was told the average number of days lost per officer should be around four per year. Lancashire's average stands at more than five days per year.

Detailed studies of the figures have been carried out and the results point towards long term sickness being the main cause of the problem.

Short term absences for police and support staff are falling but the the number of staff on long term sick leave is still rising. The Home Office is also putting pressure on the police to cut down the number of officers retiring on ill health grounds.

Because of new restrictions it is harder for officers to leave the force on health grounds which means there has been an increase in the numbers on long term sick leave.

A new attendance policy is due to be launched in November but the effects are not expected to be felt for at least another year.

The problem will be discussed when the police authority's personnel committee meet on Tuesday, September 5.