Sick leave costs council £750,000

Sick leave at Oxford City Council is estimated to have cost more than £750,000 in lost working hours during the first half of this year.

Figures released at a meeting of the council's executive board showed a total of 7,850 sick days were taken by its 1,300 full-time employees.

This equates to an average of 11 sick days per employee between April and September 2008.

A council spokesperson said no-one was available for comment.

The departments with the highest sickness levels were works, leisure and homes.

A total of 2,357 days were lost to sickness from 309 staff in city works between April and September while 2,072 days were lost at city homes from 364 staff and 712 days lost among city leisure's 130 staff.