Council staff take 70,000 sick days in one year

Employees at Surrey County Council have taken a total of 70,000 sick days in the past year, costing £6.5 million.

Figures found that stress accounted for one in six of every absence days. Staff working in adult social care took the most sick days at an average of 8.3, with the majority of employees citing stress as the reason why.

Employees in the office of David McNulty, the council’s CEO, took 2.8 days each. McNulty entered into the headlines earlier this year when he defended his salary of £70,000 more than the Prime Minister’s, claiming that his job comes with “tough responsibilities”.

However, an internal audit showed that sick days among the council's 9,546 staff had declined in the past year. The report said: “Since the last internal audit review, HR management has taken positive action to address previous audit recommendations and encourage proactive absence management across all service areas.