THE use of notices aimed at combating sickness absence levels among Conwy staff has shot up by 48 per cent on last year.

But the county council says the increase in Sickness Improvement Notices is a good thing as it has seen an improvement in attendance.

The council had had one of the worst rates for staff absence in Wales but that has improved over the last year, a report to members of the council’s finance committee said.

Two years ago the council hired an illness guru to tackle the problem and the move appears to be seeing results.

At the time the authority found its workers were averaging 11.67 sick days each – nearly triple the 4.3 average in the private sector.

Conwy wanted to get the rate down to 10.5 days a year, which it said would save £400,00 a year.

The report said: “There has been a 48 per cent increase in the number of sickness cases (sickness improvement notices) since last year.

"This is a significant increase and has resulted in a positive impact on our attendance figures when compared to the all Wales position.

"Conwy County Borough Council had reported one of the poorest attendance figures in Wales, however, we have made significant improvements and by the end of March 2018, we now report in the top seven Councils across Wales.

"Managing sickness absence is a key priority for all services and a further improvement has been seen in the number of improvement notices recorded on iTrent since last year’s report.”

The notices are issued by managers to staff members who cannot provide a sufficient reason for a high level of absence.

Cllr Sam Rowlands, Conwy's cabinet member responsible for finance, said: “This report provides the transparency in regard to our commitment to promote equality throughout the local authority." It is pleasing to be able to share such detailed information and to see actions progressing quickly. I

look forward to further comment and input from scrutiny.”

For Wendy Allison regional organiser with trade union UNISON Cymru Wales the pressures of reduced budgets has been telling on staff morale.

She said: “We want to work with the council to ensure sickness absences are as low as possible because everyone loses out when council employees are off sick.

“You can’t escape the environment local government workers are operating in.

“Austerity has a social cost.

"We have faced severe spending cuts, and council employees already under great pressure, have to do more with dramatically reduced resources.

“At the same time, people left in some very desperate positions because their welfare benefits have been cut, expect council staff to come to their aid.”