Staff absences/sickness due to psychological and musculoskeletal issues

The request was successful.

Dear Lincolnshire County Council,

Under the FOI Act 2000, I would like to request the following information:

1. How many staff absences in the past three years, ie 2013-2014, 2012-2013 and 2011-2012, were a result of musculoskeletal and/or psychological related issues/problems? Please provide this information as a raw number and as the number or full time working days lost (including non-working days).

2. The relative cost to your organisation (in £s) for each of the three years listed above, for these musculoskeletal and/or psychological absences

3. The number of staff employed as full time equivalents in each of these three years

4. The current policy, the processes in place and the occupational health provisions for those staff absent from work as a direct result of musculoskeletal and/or psychological complaint

Yours faithfully,
Samantha Kennedy

FOI, Lincolnshire County Council

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FOI, Lincolnshire County Council

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Freedom of Information
Customer Service Centre
Witham Park House
Waterside South
Lincoln
LN5 7JN
Tel: 01522 782187
[1][email address]

[2]www.lincolnshire.gov.uk

                                               

20^th January 2015

 

Dear Samantha Kennedy

 

Freedom of Information Reference: FOI 20203994

 

Subject: Request for information regarding staff absences in the past
three years, ie 2013-2014, 2012-2013 and 2011-2012, were a result of
musculoskeletal and/or psychological related issues/problems

 

Thank you for your recent request for information received by this office
on 20^th January 2015. Your request is being dealt with under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

 

We will aim to respond to your request, notifying you whether or not the
information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council and
communicating that information to you (provided that the information is
not exempt under the terms of the Act), within 20 working days from the
day after your request was received.

 

We may reasonably require further information from you in order to
identify and locate the information requested. If this is the case we will
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If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Eloise Gore

Freedom of Information
Customer Service Centre

[3][email address]

 

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you must make a formal request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005.  Please email us at
[4][email address]

 

 

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FOI, Lincolnshire County Council

4 Attachments

 

 

Freedom of Information
Customer Service Centre
Witham Park House
Waterside South
Lincoln
LN5 7JN
Tel: 01522 782187
[1][email address]

[2]www.lincolnshire.gov.uk

 

 

Date: 4^th February 2015

 

Dear Samantha Kennedy

 

Freedom of Information Reference:  20203994 FOI

 

 

Please find our response to your request below:

 

Request:

 

 

1.  How many staff absences in the past three years, ie 2013-2014,
2012-2013 and 2011-2012, were a result of musculoskeletal and/or
psychological related issues/problems?  Please provide this information as
a raw number and as the number or full time working days lost (including
non-working days).

 

2.  The relative cost to your organisation (in £s) for each of the three
years listed above, for these musculoskeletal and/or psychological
absences

 

3. The number of staff employed as full time equivalents in each of these
three years

 

4. The current policy, the processes in place and the occupational health
provisions for those staff absent from work as a direct result of
musculoskeletal and/or psychological complaint

 

Response:

 

 

The information provided includes LCC schools data as cannot be extracted
from the Council information for this request.  Note that schools included
are those that buy into the LCC/Mouchel HR/payroll arrangements.

 

1. Total FTE working days lost 

 

Sickness Reason 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

 
Musculoskeletal 15,028 11,397 14,212
Stress           21,768         18,300 13,554

 

Stress includes both work and non work related Stress

 

2. Costs

 

Costs are approximate based upon the employee's salary costs.  They do not
include costs of any temporary or agency cover.  No data is available for
2011/12

 

Sickness Reason 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

 
Musculoskeletal   841,893 1,043,013
Stress   1,351,728 994.748
       

 

3. Employment Numbers (FTE)

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  |as at 31.3.12 |as at 31.3.13 |as at 31.3.14 |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------|
|Council directorates|4540.06 |4448.65 |4564.84 |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------|
|LCC schools |6358.29 |4897.85 |4845.76 |
|--------------------+-----------------+----------------+----------------|
|Total |10898.35 |9346.50 |9410.60 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

 

4. See attached policy

 

Occupational Health Provision

 

Musculoskeletal

 

The Occupational Health Service provide the following :-

 

(i)            Medical Referrals – an assessment to provide advice on how
the employer might support the employee at work including any reasonable
adjustments

(ii)          Workplace Assessments – On site assessments to review the
workstation, chair and workplace.

(iii)         Physiotherapy (subject to the employee not being able to
access this service through their own GP within a reasonable timescale)

 

Psychological Issues

 

(i)            Medical Referrals (as above)

(ii)          Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) - (subject to the
employee not being able to access this service through their own GP within
a reasonable timescale

 

Lincolnshire County Council believes that the response outlined above
satisfies your request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act  and that all information that can be made available to you has been
provided.

 

You are entitled to an internal review of the administration of your
request. You can request an internal review by contacting
[3][email address]. Should you remain dissatisfied following the
outcome of the review you can submit a formal complaint to the Information
Commissioner's Office. Further information can be obtained from their
website [4]www.ico.gov.uk.

 

Once again, thank you for your enquiry.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

James Taylor

Freedom of Information

On behalf of Lincolnshire County Council

[5][email address]

 

The information we have supplied to you may contain intellectual property
rights of Lincolnshire County Council. Your use of the information must be
strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as
amended), or other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not
re-use this information for any commercial purpose. If you would like to
re-use this information for any commercial purpose you must make a formal
request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations
2005.  Please email us at [6][email address]

 

 

 

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