Prison Service: Sickness problem

The powerful public accounts committee has attacked the Prison Service's failure to tackle sickness rates.

Despite previous warnings, the committee says that the service "has been slow to implement initiatives" to combat sick leave.

"The service has had a higher sickness absence rate than other parts of government for a number of years," said committee chairman Edward Leigh.

"At 14.7 days absence per person in 2002/03 sickness levels are still unacceptably high and the service missed by a long chalk its own target of nine days."

If the Prison Service were to meet its target, around a thousand extra staff would be available for duty, the MPs discovered.

This committee reports that sickness absence cost the taxpayer around £80 million in 2002/03.

The MPs lambast the service's failure to implement its previous recommendations in a timely fashion.

"The Prison Service has been slow to implement initiatives recommended by this committee in 1999 with many not becoming effective until 2002," said Leigh.

He said the service "needs to act urgently to take a tighter grip of the problem".

But the report added that the service has improved its procedures for recording and managing sickness absence.

The MPs say that sickness rates are coming down but warn that prison bosses need to make much further improvement much quicker.

The committee said that the Prison Service should consider whether more rigorous checks could be carried out at the recruitment stage to identify candidates’ potential health and fitness risks.
 
"The Prison Service should consider the costs and benefits of not paying staff for the first three days of any period of sickness absence in line with the approach used by private sector prisons to manage sickness absence," added the report.

It also recommended that all managers in the Prison Service should be trained in how to manage sickness absence and encourage attendance.