THE number of Burnley Council staff calling in sick for work has rocketed by a third in just one year - costing taxpayers more than half a million pounds.

Last year staff at the authority took off an average of 13.3 days a year because of sickness - an increase from 10.8 the year before.

That is well above the national average of 8.4 days per year and around 30 per cent worse than the national average for public sector workers, which is 10.3 days per person.

The number of sicknotes at Burnley council - with opposition leaders claiming 35 staff are off work every day - mean the authority is badly missing its targets to reduce absence among its 700-strong workforce to 8.2 days a year.

It also means 9,310 working days are being lost each year at a cost of £572,000 - enough to pay the council tax on 430 band D properties.

Burnley is the worst performing council in East Lancashire with colleagues in improving Rossendale taking 12.62 days, those in Hyndburn taking 10.65 days, Blackburn with Darwen and Pendle taking just over nine days and the Ribble Valley eight days.

However none of the East Lancashire councils came close to one of the country's worst authorities for absence, with Lincoln City Council boasting an average of 18.2 days.

The figures were revealed by Conservative leader Peter Doyle at a meeting of the council and he has now demanded action is taken to address the problem.

He said: "First of all we have got to ensure managers enforce the present rules regarding sickness and we must also look and see if there are ways of improving the situation."

Council leader Stuart Caddy said workload could be contributing to the problem.

He said: "Many people are suffering from stress. The workload has never been so heavy."

One woman who works on the switchboard at Burnley council is currently off with stress because of the number of calls the authority is getting about its new recycling system, according to the public service union Unison.

Peter Thorne, of Unison, said: "The council is aware of the need to keep sickness down and although there is not alot that can be done about long-term sickness we do seem to suffer from high levels of stress with more and more work being asked of fewer and fewer people."

Coun Peter Kenyon, executive member for best value and resources, said the council would act to reduce the high levels: "We will look at examples of best practice from other local authorities to make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to bring down sickness."

A Burnley council spokesman added: "At present, number of measures are employed in line with Burnley council's Sickness Absence Policy, to keep sickness levels as low as possible.

"The council refers all employees who have been absent for six weeks or more to the Occupational Health Unit for further advice and offers employees counselling for stress-related illness. Furthermore, the Personnel Unit, in conjunction with the Healthy Lifestyles Team, promotes health and fitness to employees, including advice on smoking cessation and exercise.

"The council are continuously working towards reducing sickness absence and are in discussions with the Occupational Health Unit to look at additional services which may be appropriate."

A recent survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed the average number of absences was 8.4 days off sick last year, down from 9.1 days in the previous year.

The survey also showed that the gap between the number of sick days taken by public sector workers and those in the private sector widened last year.

On average, public sector workers took 10.3 days off compared to 6.8 for private sector workers.

Absence levels were highest in local government, the health sector and in the drink, tobacco and transport industries.

The sickness rates at Burnley will be discussed at a meeting of the scrutiny panel in September.