STAFF absence levels cost North Ayrshire Council £2.6 million in the last year, it has been revealed.

High absence rates were reported in key areas which require cover arrangements, specifically teachers and waste collectors.

A report to the council's audit and scrutiny committee showed that in 2023-24, this resulted in additional costs of £2.6m.

The average days lost per full-time employee was 10.82 days, which is above the council’s target rate of 10.21 days. In 2023-24 this resulted in additional costs of £1.98m for mandatory cover required for teacher absences.

There was also a £653,000 overspend in employee costs for waste services.

This overspend is attributed to temporary additional resources required to deal with new builds but also to cover a significant and challenging absence rate of 28.64 days.

Councillor John Sweeney told the meeting: “We have financial challenges identified owing to high absence rates in some departments and I hope some consideration can be given for absence levels to be brought to a future meeting, so we can establish what is being done to tackle this problem.”

NAC chief executive Craig Hatton said: “We are disappointed with the absence levels and have taken a number of actions and will report those through, including strengthening, monitoring and engagement. 

“Performance is improving. Three weeks ago we had 484 people absent and last week that was down to 439.

“That shows the engagement we are taking to bring that down, it is above where we would like to be, it’s a risk and we have had discussions with the auditors.

“We are absolutely on it in terms of bringing those sickness levels down but are more than happy to bring a report to this committee.”

Pressure on staff looks set to get worse in the coming years. In 2024-25 the workforce is projected to reduce by 80.5 full-time employees, the committee heard.

During 2023-24 the council progressed a voluntary early release programme. 

This process has considered the scale of the financial challenges facing the council and an assessment of the impact on service delivery and associated costs of exit for those staff who have volunteered for consideration.

A total of 85 staff were released by March 31.

North Ayrshire Council currently employs 7,510 staff, equivalent to 6,432 full time equivalent employees.