The cost of council sick days

Almost 1,500 days were lost to sickness between April and June of this year.

The figures show that 216 days were lost to depression, an increase of 127 per cent on the corresponding period last year.

Almost 80 days were taken off by employees complaining of fatigue, a rise of 84 per cent.

The report shows that council employees take an average of 11 days sick leave each year, similar to the national average for local authorities.

Sitting on Basingstoke council's personnel committee, Councillor John Leek said: "It's an appalling record and we really do have to address this. Personally I do not remember taking off 11 days in my life, and to have an average of 11 days per employee is, frankly, astounding."

The council is looking into the high level of absence and at ways it can be reduced.

Corporate director Dorcas Bunton said: "The levels of sickness, though on a par with other local authorities, is something the management team is concerned about, and we will take a management review and talk to other authorities about good practice."

The council's absence policy includes offering health checks to employees, as well as giving employees return-to-work interviews.

The council will also look at the causes of illness to try and ascertain how to reduce the levels of sick days, a move welcomed by Cllr Tony Jones.

He said: "When you look at depression, and things like that, we should say 'are people happy?'

"And that's what we should be looking at.

"What we should also be focusing on, as an organisation, is are we treating our staff correctly? Is it personal or is it actually in the work place?"

The report also shows that council employees who have regular contact with the public suffer the highest number of sick days.

These include workers from the environmental health, licensing and parking department, local tax and benefits workers, and housing services officers.

Last year, the total number of sick days was estimated to have cost £317,000 in lost labour.