A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to tackle absenteeism among York council workers is to be extended after showing initial success.

City of York Council said today that the three-month trial for reporting sickness absence will continue for a further three months - and if its success continues, it could be rolled out across the council's entire 7,000-strong workforce.

Since September 13, staff working in adult services must phone a special number to explain absences to a team of 12 occupational health nurses at private healthcare firm Active Health Partners, in London, rather than their council line manager.

The nurses offer treatment advice and conduct follow-up checks when required. The council is then told the employee will be off work and given an indication of a return date. Reasons for absence are not disclosed without the worker's consent.

Council chiefs decided to divert sick calls for three months after research showed the 1,000-strong department lost 28 days per full-time worker each year, at a cost of £2.3 million.

This is double the authority's average of 12.2 days - and led to York becoming the UK's first council to try the pilot, which it hopes will save £172,000.

But union officials claimed the scheme would not solve the non-attendance problem, which they believed was fuelled by stress, heavy workloads and lack of staff.

During the first month of the trial (September) the number of days lost to sickness absence continued to increase - but at a much slower rate than had been the case over the months running up to it.

In addition, the number of instances of absence fell from 213 in August to 185 in September, and fewer days were lost to short-term sickness - 33.96 per cent of total absences, compared with 42.96 per cent in August.

Ken Green, head of human resources for the council, said: "Early indications are that the pilot scheme is having an effect in terms of supporting people back to work.

"Clearly, this eases the pressure on colleagues who have had to cover for them during their absence and saves the council money."

Mr Green said they would be monitoring the trial closely to establish the scheme's long-term impact on absence levels.

Heather Mackenzie, deputy general convenor for York Unison, said the extension of the trial was not "a measure of its success" and described the scheme as an "oppressive measure. She said: "We do not feel that sickness should be managed in this particular way.

"We think that there are other issues that need addressing."

"The feedback we have been getting from people is that it puts them under a lot of pressure to return to work before they feel well."

Updated: 14:50 Monday, November 15, 2004