Herefordshire Council staff take nearly twice the national average number of sick days

Herefordshire Council staff take nearly twice the national average number of sick days.

A report prepared for this Thursday’s (September 29) cabinet meeting lists 19 measures that the council uses to rate its own performance – describing these, perhaps unfortunately, as “an indication of the overall health of the organisation”.

Among these, “average days of sickness per FTE [full-time-equivalent employee]” is given as 8.59 days.

The compares with official figures showing the average UK worker took 4.5 sick days last year – a higher figure than pre-pandemic levels.

This measure is marked on the council report as neither an improvement nor a target met – although it is rated “yellow”, meaning within 10 per cent of the (unspecified) target figure for absences.

In all, the council is currently meeting just five of its 13 performance measures for which it has set targets.

Among the other seven ranked as falling short of target are the council’s projected £9.4 million revenue overspend this financial year, and the fact that it expects to spend just 48 per cent of its capital budget.

The percentage of planning applications managed within statutory timescales meanwhile stands at just 58 per cent.