Council workers in Northern Ireland ran up a staggering 131,000 days absence last year, nearly 14 days for every man and woman employed, it was revealed today.
The key reasons for absence given by workers were stress, depression, mental health and fatigue — responsible for one in four days taken off.
The 131,000 days taken off amounted to 13.70 days for each full-time employee, down only a whisker from the 13.82 days of 2006-07.
That some people took many, many more days off became clear when he revealed that 37per cent of all staff, over 3,500, didn’t take a single ‘sickie’ during the entire year.
Magherafelt topped the list as the council with the lowest level of absence, while Larne headed the list of councils with the sickest staff.
Comparisons were made over a three year period to iron out distortions and Magherafelt kept its absence rate down to 8.19, Larne was way ahead with 19.54 days.
Indeed the average annual absenteeism rates for five councils was more than double the rate recorded for Magherafelt. Larne was followed by Carrickfergus (18.99 days), Derry (17.89) Moyle (16.85) and Craigavon (16.71).
Ballymena had the largest increase in absenteeism, up 4.36 days to the 12.87 days recorded for 2005-08. The 8.51 days of the previous audit covering 2002-05 had been the lowest for any council.
Overall 19 councils showed an improvement in their absenteeism rates, with Newry and Mourne making the most significant reductions from 21.43 days to 14.96.
PA