Number of sick days taken by Scarborough Council rises - this is why

A spate of broken bones has been blamed for a rise in sick days taken by Scarborough Council staff.
Scarborough Town Hall. PIC: Richard PonterScarborough Town Hall. PIC: Richard Ponter
Scarborough Town Hall. PIC: Richard Ponter

Figures discussed at today’s cabinet meeting of the authority showed there has been an increase in the level of sickness absence for the same period last year from 7.80 days lost per full-time employee to 11.23 days.

Petra Jackson, the authority’s performance and admin manager, told the cabinet members that a rash of injuries was to blame.

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She said: “We do seem to have a lot of broken bones and long-term sick lately.”

Cllr Liz Colling (Lab), deputy leader of the council, assured members that the broken bones had not occurred on council property.

The figures were revealed as part of the council’s performance management review, which tracks how the authority is doing against targets in priority areas.

Cabinet member Tony Randerson, portfolio holder for legal, democratic and governance praised the work of officers in meeting targets.

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He said: “I am particularly pleased with the figures for complaints and compliments and the response times to our residents.”

The figures showed that nearly 96 per cent of complaints got responses provided within 20 working days, an improvement on 93 per cent in the previous 12 months with an average response time of seven working days.

This was despite the number of complaints jumping from 374 to 555 in the same period, an increase of 48 per cent.

The authority saw a rise of nearly 100 complaints in its events and operations department compared to the previous 12 months.

Scarborough Council also received 143 compliments in the previous 12 months, up by 20 on the previous year.

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