COUNCIL LEAVE FIGURES LOOK SICK

13-05-2008

Birmingham City Council is claiming success in tackling staff absence – even though their figures are worse than three years ago. The average Council employee has almost a fortnight off every year on sick leave.

The latest figures are, admittedly, an improvement on last year, when the standard leave of absence was 10.25 days.

In 2007/08, that fell to 9.89 days – but the figure in 2004/05 (the first year of the “Progressive Partnership”) was “just” 9.83 days.

In other words, they are almost (but not quite) back to the situation they inherited when they first took control.

Rather than apologising for the fact that the situation hasn’t improved, the leadership is applying a thick coat of Dulux gloss to the statistics.

Cllr Alan Rudge, the Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources, said: “I am delighted by the final figure that has been recorded for 2007/08.

"It shows the approach taken by the city council to tackle the problem of staff absence has been successful.

"The last year has seen the council develop and progress its Pay and Grading Review, which, despite the fair offer we have put forward, has left some employees feeling uncertain - so to post improved figures is highly encouraging.

"However, we will not rest on our laurels. We were slightly short of our target for this year of 9.75 days, so it is crucial that we continue to make progress as the council's productivity will be increased if less time is taken off by staff."

Tomorrow: Why having you pay cut under Single Status is a good thing; and why paying customers late through Voyager is a good thing (honest!)

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