Library
Our library contains documents held on the Improvement Service site together with links to documents held externally. A list of websites which also hold publications and information useful to those working in local government is available in our Information Sources section.
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Absence Management
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This report from the Department for Work and Pensions looks at the loss of work as a result of ill health. With a particular focus on the public sector, it examines the actions of individuals, employers, healthcare professionals and official agencies made in response to sickness absence, and the incentives and disincentives that shape those actions. It also looks at the balance of costs that fall on individuals, employers and the state and argues that there are weaknesses in the current system. The report advocates and suggests changes in order to improve effectiveness in restoring people to work, and the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the present system.
Report from the LGA and Local Government Employers which sets out the findings of the local government sickness absence levels and causes survey 2006-7 (the report covers England and Wales only). The key findings from the survey include: sickness absence levels were 9.6 FTE days per employee; that, as in previous years, stress, depression, anxiety, mental health and fatigue were the most reported causes of absence (23% of all absence days); that?88% of authorities had introduced an employee well-being programme; and approximately?14% reported a reduction in the number of days lost to sickness as a result of interventions to reduce work-based stress.
Sickness absence is a significant source of lost productivity and service disruption in Scotland's Councils and potentially the key area where 'time releasing' efficiencies can be achieved through more effective management. To explore this, we commissioned a study re-analysing absence data from a sample of Councils and linking this to comparative data from the wider public and private sectors.
