FIGURES on the sickness absence rate at Merthyr Tydfil Council over the last five years show a “noticeable increase” since 2022.
The data comes from a report to the council’s corporate support and resources committee for Tuesday, October 15, and shows ther percentage of working days lost to sickness absence increased from 3.58% in 2022/2023 to 4.37% in 2023/2024.
The report said the sickness absence rate had shown fluctuations over the years and that the lowest absence rate in the last five years was seen in 2020/21 at 2.76% which was the year of Covid, and any isolation cases or sickness associated with Covid were recorded as special leave and not sickness absence.
The highest absence rate was seen in the year 2023/24 at 4.37% and during this year Covid absences were recorded as sickness absence.
It said there was a noticeable increase in the absence rate from 2022-2024.
The report said that unpublished data from nine other local authorities in the surrounding area and Merthyr Tydfil Council showed that Merthyr ranked lowest in terms of the percentage of working days lost for the period 2023/2024, at 4.37%.
The report said figures steadily increased in the departments that were front facing such as social services and education as there was a higher chance of coming into contact with more people and contracting illnesses resulting in increased sickness absences.
The report also said these were high stress environments which could cause mental and physical health problems.
It said these figures would be reviewed with senior teams during their monthly meetings with their HR Advisor to better monitor these sickness absences and ensure well-being support was provided to the staff to enable them to return to work.
The report said the most common reasons for sickness absence were minor illness such as cold or flu, musculoskeletal problems, respiratory conditions, and mental health conditions such as stress or depression.
It said the instances of infections, colds, and flu saw a significant drop in 2020/21 (down to 180 from 359 the previous year), likely due to increased hygiene practices and isolation of staff during the pandemic but the numbers had fluctuated in subsequent years.
Gastrointestinal issues have have remained relatively consistent, with a slight increase in recent years which the report said suggested ongoing issues that might need to be addressed through health and wellness programmes.
It said there was a noticeable decrease in musculoskeletal issues over the years, which could be attributed to better working practices or changes in work conditions, and non-work-related stress and anxiety had shown an increase over the years, peaking in 2023/24 (at 507) which the report said highlighted the growing importance of mental health support in the workplace and possibly the impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
Here are the figures for the numbers of days lost to sickness absence over the last five years at the council:
- In 2019/2020, 14,063.89 sickness days were lost which is 3.25% (full time equivalent) of the total number of working days which was 432,797.8.
- In 2020/2021, 11,901.2 sickness days were lost which is 2.76% (full time equivalent) of the total number of working days which was 431,145.9
- In 2021/2022, 16,809.86 sickness days were lost which is 3.9% (full time equivalent) of the total number of working days which was 431,145.9.
- In 2022/2023, 15,414 sickness days were lost which is 3.58% (full time equivalent) of the total number of working days which was 431,145.9.
- And in 2023/2024, 18,756 sickness days were lost which is 4.37% (full time equivalent) of the total number of working days which was 429,494.