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Managing Attendance in the Public Sector
Managing Attendance in the Public Sector: Putting Best Practice to Work
The 1998 study into sickness absence management in the public sector was commissioned
by the Government’s Public Spending Committee as part of the Comprehensive Spending
Review. There was concern that analysis of annual sickness absence rates, by the CBI and
the government’s own Office for National Statistics study, had always shown a higher
incidence in the public sector than in the private sector.
The full report 'Working Well Together'
[pdf document] was published in July 1998. Action on the report’s findings
were taken forward by the Cabinet Office with the help of a reference group that included
private sector and union representatives. The development of the guidance (now issued in
the form of the resource pack)
also benefited from similarly wide consultation.
The report’s findings and recommendations were well received within the public
services and gained the support of Ministers who agreed in their Departmental
Public Service Agreements to set targets to
reduce sick absence by 30% by the year 2003. The wider public sector was challenged to
meet this same commitment. The Ministerial Committee on public sector productivity
monitors levels of sickness absence, and receives regular progress reports.
The Resource Pack
To help and guide the public sector organisations in meeting their commitments to
reduce sick absence, the Minister for the Cabinet Office launched the guidance on 12 March
1999. Several thousand copies have since been distributed throughout the public sector.
There has also been substantial private sector interest.
