Issue - meetings

That the end of year Workforce Information Report for 2022/23 be noted.

The Chief Executive introduced the end of year update report on workforce statistics and analysis for 2022/23.

The Corporate Manager (People and Organisational Development) provided an overview of the key areas including the increase in staff turnover which was mainly due to the current labour market and cessation of the Test, Trace & Protect service where some employees had been successfully redeployed into alternative roles.

There was a slight improvement in attendance from 2021/22 with mental health continuing to be the main reason for absences followed by musculoskeletal issues.  It was noted that the full-time equivalent absence rate of 5.59% in Flintshire followed the national trend.  Recent data issued by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported a record high in UK absence rates since 2004 and noted high absence rates for public sector workers in 2022/23 in care, leisure and front-line services.  The data also reported that long-term health conditions were at their highest point since 2008.

The Committee was reminded of the range of interventions and support available to the Council’s employees whilst noting other factors such as the rising number of age-related health issues and more complex needs of service users in social care settings.  In addition, delays to external medical appointments, assessments and treatments were in many cases prolonging absences and preventing employees from returning to work; an issue replicated across the UK.

On agency workers, Members were advised that not all of the 91 active placements recorded as at 31 March 2023 were engaged and working at that point in time.  Although cumulative agency spend had exceeded the target, the majority of salary underspend from a high number of vacancies in Streetscene & Transportation and Social Services during the period had been utilised for agency appointments.  As well as receiving an update on recruitment exercises in Streetscene, Members were reminded that agency workers were a vital resource for the delivery of Council services.

In response to questions from Councillor Bernie Attridge, the Corporate Manager provided examples on the benefits of using agency workers alongside the recruitment process.  On attendance, there was no evidence to suggest that working from home was contributing to absences and a further employee survey would help to identify any issues.  It was clarified that the vast majority of staff worked in their normal workplace, including Streetscene & Transportation and Social Care which recorded the highest number of absences.

The Chief Executive said that despite early intervention by the Occupational Health team to support employees returning to work, the ONS report reflected the national impact of delays to external medical appointments.  He said it was important to understand the underlying base requirement for agency workers in front-line services such as Streetscene and spoke about plans to streamline the application process for those agency workers who had been in vacant posts for a number of months.

The Chairman made the suggestion for the Committee to write to Welsh Government to raise concerns about the impact of delays in the health service.

In response, the Chief Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7