Boss's vow to tackle council staff absence

Monica Fogarty said she believed there was an element of a "hangover post-Covid" among staff

A council boss has vowed to take action on rising staff absence rates, saying the level could not be accepted any longer.

The average number of sick days per year taken by Warwickshire County Council's full-time members of staff was 10.73 at the end of December 2024, despite the target being eight days per year. Last year the amount of sick days taken stood at 9.86.

Councillors were particularly worried by the continued increase in absence related to stress and mental health, the biggest single cause.

Chief executive Monica Fogarty said a deep dive approach was needed to address the root cause for long-term absence.

More needed to be done to tackle the issue earlier rather than monitor it, she said.

"I think there is absolutely truth in the fact that some of this is a hangover post-Covid, different patterns of working, remoteness perhaps between teams, different patterns of recording [absence]," she said.

"It very much needs a deep dive, not only to understand the different natures of sickness absence but what more there is that we can be doing to tackle it.

"Whether it is something to do with the recording of data or whether it is more activity that we need to undertake, but we are going to have a deep dive. We can't just accept this level any longer."

A report to councillors highlighted work being done in the area, including case conferences with the council's occupational health provider, a reduction in cases of absence of more than nine months from 30 to 18 and "a stress and mental health inspections approach" within services.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.