Staff sickness days cost council £2m

STRESS ONE OF TOP REASONS FOR ABSENCE

- By STUART ARNOLD

STAFF on the sick are costing Redcar and Cleveland Council around £2m a year in lost time.

The number of days lost per full-time equivalent employee peaked at 9.66 days in 2023/24, the culmination of a rising trend over the past ten years.

In 2015 it had been just over seven days.

A report for members of the council's resources scrutiny committee, which revealed the financial figure, said it was apparent that sickness absence had "increased significantly", although the days lost per full-time equivalent had recently dropped slightly.

In the 12 months to February this year the figure was 8.8 days.