SICK days taken by council staff in Dorset are costing £1.3 million per year.

The average number of days taken off sick by Dorset County Council workers has increased to 8.6 per full-time employee annually.

New figures from the council staffing committee showed that 81,460 days of work were lost due to staff calling in sick, costing the council £1.3 million in lost productivity, according to a report to the council’s latest staffing committee.

The council has a total of 15,600 staff, whose hours equate to 9,473 full-time employees.

Council chiefs have moved to try and reduce the ‘unacceptable’ figures by recruiting a second occupational health nurse.

Councillor Mike Byatt, from the council’s staffing committee, raised concerns that council workers were off more than private sector workers, whose national average is 5.8 days per year.

He said: “We have to get the message out that the levels of sickness are unacceptable.

“We are paying people to provide a key service and therefore need to make sure every step is taken to make clear the importance of turning up for work.

“Sometimes a view is presented that it’s more acceptable for people to acknowledge stress and the pressure is not as great to turn up for work.

“Sanctions against people not turning up, like losing pay or their job, are not as readily applied.

“When you are talking about public money we can not see the sickness levels as acceptable.”

A team of two occupational health nurses has increased in-house assessments of staff who are referred by their line managers due to high levels of sickness absence.

They are currently dealing with 115 members of staff, 38 of whom who have suffered long-term absence – 20 working days or more.

The nursing team will also carry out health promotion, pre-employment screenings and provide advice and guidance to staff.

Leader of the council, Angus Campbell, said the council figures are ‘about average for county councils.’ He said: “It’s a continual struggle and one of those things you can never leave alone.

“Adult and Community Services has a higher figure as their staff are out on the front line working in the community in face to face contact.

“Their jobs are stressful and hard.

“Some people may feel councils are too soft but we are trying to be fair and firm.

“There’s no doubt if you are working in industry it is a lot tougher.”

The latest figures relate to the year running up to the end of September 2008.

The average number of days off sick was at 7.89 for the year ending June 2008 but rose to 8.6 by the end of September.

The council target is 6.85 days.

They include school staff as well as workers in departments at County Hall.

School staff had the least average numbers of days off, 6.76, while workers in Adult and Community Services had an average of 13.83 off each.

Mark Wallace, spokesman for the taxpayers alliance, said: “The problem is clearly of the management culture and not the health of council staff.

“Clear and firm management is needed to make sure staff are not taking advantage.”

“It’s very worrying that public sector rates are much higher at almost double.

“But councils never go bust. They simply tax people more.”