Sick leave caused by mental health problems soars in civil service

Mental health conditions are rising at alarming levels in parts of the civil service, figures released in response to a House of Commons question suggest.

Data points out that in the Department of Health absences classed as mental health-related now account for 28 per cent of total absences, up 15 per cent since 2011. A similar situation has occurred within other departments: the Department for Communities & Local Government saw the percentage of mental health sick days rise from 18.3 per cent in 2011 to 32.8 per cent today, and the Department for Transport went from 10.8 per cent to 13.9 per cent.

The Public and Commercial Services Union claimed that the loss of 90,000 civil service posts since 2010, and the resulting heightened pressure on employees, was directly linked to the rise in mental ill-health.

Tensor Time and Attendance Systems can streamline sick leave monitoring and management

Tensor plc supplies an extensive range of solutions designed specifically to help employers thoroughly monitor and manage absence, with our flagship WinTA.NET integrated workforce management solution incorporating a dedicated Absence Planning and Entitlement Management feature.

Our comprehensive, yet user-friendly software comes pre-loaded with graphical calendar charts that provide a colourful way of viewing an individual’s or a department’s absence records.

Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. As absence is booked and taken, the remainder available for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements calculated on a rising scale based upon length of service.

WinTA.NET supplies the relevant managers with information on employee’s absences through warning email notifications or via hardcopy reports. After that, the system would rapidly identify missing employees that are expected to be at work and then informs you via automatic email reporting reports distributed by email.

If you’d like to find out more about the Tensor workforce management solutions, just contact our team or Book a Demo, we’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.