Soaring sick day rates troubles council
Angus Council has reported a “dramatic rise” in sick days taken by staff in a 12-month period, according to Freedom of Information data.
The number of absences within workplaces experienced a sharp in 2023/24 for local government and non-teaching employees as revealed by council statistics.
Arbroath member, Lois Speed, says she has “a concern for the workforce” after these numbers of absences from council and non-council staff came out last year.
She added: “Everything has its place, whether that’s temporary staff. agile working or working from home.
“All of those flexibilities are great, but I’m hugely concerned for the knock-on impact that has.
“People can only take so much.”
Teaching staff in the council area has shown to have almost 9,000 days off last year with stress-related absences at the source of the issue.
Education Institution Scotland claim that the rise in absences among teachers in Angus is “not a surprise and extremely troubling.”
A spokesperson from EIS said: “Scottish schools must be able to deliver quality education but this can only be achieved where teacher wellbeing needs are met with adequate support and resourcing.
“With stress being cited as a main cause for absenteeism in Angus Council, the EIS is clear that staff in schools need more support to deal with workload crisis in our schools.
“This can only come through increased investment in the education system by government.”
Independent academic research was carried out by EIS in 2024 finding that, on average, teachers participating in the study reported working 46 hours in the target week.
The institute represents over 80% of people in teaching professions across the sector, ranging from early years to high school education, and celebrated its 175th anniversary back in 2022
According to a Scottish Health Survey, almost 74 % of adults have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope due to stress at some point in the past year.
Working Lives Scotland also conducted a study in 2024 noting that 25 % of employees said their work “impacts negatively or very negatively” on their mental health with 24 % reporting the same in terms of physical health.
Angus Council, which includes eight council wards covering towns such as Montrose, Forfar, and Brechin, bases their core values around “collaboration, focus on people, respect, fairness, and integrity.”
There are 51 primary schools and eight secondary schools across the whole council area including Webster’s and Monifeith High School.
