Staff at Cork prison took most number of sick days, audit finds 

At some prisons, up to 18 days were lost per member of staff every year, with Cork reporting the highest rate

A prison audit found  that while the working environment for prison officers was different from other public servants, levels of sick leave remain “at a high level”.

THE annual cost of sick leave in the prison service has spiralled to more than €9m with a single prison responsible for more than 15% of the days lost.

An anti-fraud internal audit carried out by the Department of Justice revealed that 47,627 days were missed due to ill-health in 2019, the latest year for which figures are available.

The annual cost was €9.054m, up more than €210,000 in the space of a year and an increase of well over €2.5m since 2014.

The internal audit said that while the working environment for prison officers was different from other public servants, levels of sick leave remain “at a high level”.

At some prisons, up to 18 days were lost per member of staff every year with Cork Prison reporting the highest rate.

In Cork Prison, there were 17.92 sick days per person, followed by Portlaoise high-security prison at 17.32 days, and Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon at 17.17 days.

The biggest sick bills were at Mountjoy in Dublin where absences cost the prison an estimated €1.41m million and the Midlands Prison in Laois where the bill was €1.22 million.

According to the internal audit, the average amount of sick days taken each year within the Irish Prison Service was 14.97 days.

Of the 47,627 days lost in 2019 to sick leave, a total of 41,463 of them were “certified days” while 6,164 were described as “self-certified days”.

The audit said there was an obvious difference in the amount of ill-health between staff working in higher security prisons and low-security facilities.

At low-security Loughan House in Co Cavan, the sick leave average was 7.17 days while at Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow, the average was 7.59 days.

The internal audit said: “2,980 staff availed of sick leave in 2018 which increased to 3,125 staff availing of sick leave in 2019.

However, there was an increase in the number of staff from 3,077 in 2018 to 3,182 in 2019. Costings are based on the average pay scale of each grade, on an eight-hour day and the total working hours per year based on [a] 39-hour week.

An international comparison of sick rates internationally however, said that the Irish Prison Service “compares favourably” with other nations.

The average number of sick days taken in the Northern Irish prison service was 19.7 days, and in Scottish prisons 16.3 days, as compared to around 15 days in the Irish Prison Service.

However, rates were much lower in services in England and Wales with an average of 9.3 days, and South Australia where it was also 9.3 days.

The Irish Prison Service has refused to release data for 2020 claiming it would compromise safety and interfere with their management of the prison system.

Action being taken

However, the internal audit said targeted action was being taken to deal with rates of sick leave.

This included “structured management of absences to identify and reduce absenteeism” and “support to target the work-related causes of sick leave”.

The audit also said ensuring compliance with policy on work attendance had “proved challenging” but that steps had been taken to improve it.

The report said: “Employees’ attendance is reviewed on a regular basis and employees are advised of the consequences that poor attendance may have, financially and on their continued employment.

Poor attendance is managed by verbal and written warnings and ultimately dismissal if no improvement is demonstrated. 

It said high rates of sick leave would also affect promotional opportunities for staff, and their right to get incremental increases in salary.

The report also added that an “intervention programme” could be considered for individuals with “poor sick records” to help safeguard their jobs.

It also highlighted a shortage of administrative staff to monitor absences and the risk of staff taking “habitual leave or just under what regulations permit”.