Dozens of Wolverhampton City Council staff sacked as 120 YEARS of sick time racked up
Wolverhampton City Council sacked 42 workers for taking too many sick days over the last year as the average time taken off by staff rose to almost two working weeks.
More than 40,000 days were lost by staff taking sick days at the authority in 2014/15 - the equivalent of around 120 years of lost work.
Workers called in sick for an average of nine days each.
The figures mean that sickness absence at the cash-strapped council is more than double the national average of 4.4 days.
The council has laid off 42 serial non-attendees since April 2014 as part of its attendance management scheme.
In a report to the authority's corporate performance panel, senior council officers state that sickness levels may have been under reported in the past, sparking calls for an investigation into the council's methods of recording non-attendance.
Bosses at the authority say the figure is 'too high' and have made reducing sickness absence a key priority.
Conservative leader Councillor Wendy Thompson described the statistics as 'absolutely horrifying'.
"The absence figure is extraordinarily high. But even worse is the fact that sickness has clearly been under reported in past years."
The figure is higher than 2013/14, when the average number of days lost to sickness was 7.57.
Around 4,576 staff who worked at the council over the period amassed 41,184 sick days between them, meaning the council missed its target of an average of 8.5 days sick leave.
"Where there are areas of underperformance there is often a direct impact on the budget and medium term financial strategy," the report said.
It added that all staff had now been made aware of the correct procedures to take when phoning in sick.
Councillor Thompson added: "It's inexcusable that we have not been given an accurate picture of staff absence in the past. It is only now we are beginning to see how dire the situation is.
"With so many days lost you can only assume that work is not getting done or they are spending money they can scarcely afford on agency staff."
Councillor Paul Sweet, cabinet member for performance, said: "Clearly the figure is too high and it is a priority for us to bring it down. We need to understand why we have a higher than average sickness absence and ensure that we do what we can to reduce it.
"We will be taking this very seriously and will see if the procedures we have in place need to be developed to help us get sickness levels down."
