Sickies are on the rise

Absences due to illness are rising within the development services department, where 5,489 days were taken off by staff in 2006/07 – the equivalent of six years.

And the trend is also spreading to other departments within the council as concern grows.

The figures show that more than three per cent of the 177,860 days available within development services were lost through sickness, which can be linked directly with worries over the job evaluation exercise going on at the authority.

Despite bosses claiming sickness absences are generally improving, they have now admitted that there is a problem.

In a report to be discussed this week by a scrutiny panel, Ron Hilton, the corporate director for development services, admits that the problem could impact on performance.

He said: "Following three years of improving sickness trends there has been a notable increase, particularly in long-term sickness, during the last six months of 2006/07.

"A major contribution to this has been an increase in long-term sickness, due to depression or stress, which can be linked to the implementation of job evaluation and the current level of organisational review or change."

Job evaluation is currently being carried out at local authorities across the country and will see ever position within each council reviewed and 'banded' - with some wages set to increase and some to fall.

The original proposal for changes at Staffordshire was thrown out, after more than 70 per cent of staff opposed the plans. In March it was revealed that stress is costing the council more than £4 million per year.