Public sector sick pay cut saves €50m

A halving of sick pay for public sector workers last year resulted in an extra 260,000 days being worked and a saving of over €50m for the taxpayer.

However, there are still huge gaps between workers in different sectors taking sick leave. Civil servants in shared services and children and youth affairs have the highest rates, taking at least 13 sick days a year.

Figures released by Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin yesterday show reductions in absenteeism rates between 2013 and 2014.

Overall, the total cost of sick leave across the public service last year was €319.3m, a decrease of almost 14%, or €51.5m, compared to the previous year.

The average number of sick days were reduced by 0.8 to 8.7 across the public service.

Mr Howlin’s officials released the savings pointing out that sick leave pay was halved last year for most public sector staff and in the second half of the year for those in the education sector.

However, while some sectors saw huge drops in sick leave days, others saw only minor changes.

One of the biggest savings was in the health sector, where workers on average took one less sick day last year, resulting in savings of €26m. Elsewhere, an average reduction in the levels of absenteeism by three days in the areas of justice and gardaí saved almost €10m for the taxpayer.

Workers in local government reduced their sick leave by less than one day last year, resulting in savings in that sector of over €9m. Despite the overall savings, levels of absenteeism in the civil service are still consistently higher and more erratic than other public sectors, the figures reveal.

While workers took just an average 1.6 sick days in the law reform commission, absenteeism rates average 12.6 days in the central statistics office, 12.7 in the national council for curriculum and assessment and reach 13.2 for workers in children and youth affairs. The highest rate is in the shared services, where workers take an average 13.9 sick days a year.