‘Sickness’ is a drain on public services

When will policymakers finally realise that high sickness levels in the public sector have got nothing to do with more stressful jobs or being more sick? Until this is grasped, there’s no hope of dealing with the horrific waste of public funds to pay thousands of staff for being off sick when there is nothing wrong with them.The reality is that vast numbers of people use stress, depression and anxiety as a way of getting signed off work for weeks on end. They get away with it best in public services, where employers fail to implement robust and consistent absence management procedures. Doctors throw medical certificates for long-term stress around like confetti for staff who suddenly get ill when faced with disciplinary or performance management proceedings. Employers run scared of unions protecting their members, knowing they are backed by an employment law regime so skewed against employers that we have no hope of restoring public- sector efficiency until the employment tribunal system is overhauled. The commercial sector finds pragmatic ways of getting around the law because it has to in order to survive.