 MPs say sickness levels are 'unacceptably high' |
Prison staff should not be paid for the first three days they are off work through illness, a group of MPs says. In 2002/3, sick leave among prison staff in England and Wales cost the taxpayer �80m.
Employees took an average of 14.7 days off through ill health, with more than a fifth taking 11 days or more.
A report by the all-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the service should consider restricting sick pay, like the private sector.
In 2002-03, Prison Service employees took 668,337 sick days - equivalent to a year's work for 3,000 full-time staff - and 13.3 days in 2003/4.
And staff at three institutions took more than 20 days off sick annually - Haslar immigration removal centre in Portsmouth, Liverpool Prison and Hindley young offenders institution, near Wigan.
 |  It's undoubtedly true if you look at the private prisons that they have a much better record  |
Latest CBI figures show that the average sickness rate for the private sector is 6.9 days and 8.9 for the public sector.
In private prisons, the figure was 12.5 days a year while in the Scottish Prison Service it was 12.9 days in 2002/3.
The PAC report said: "The Prison Service should consider the costs and benefits of not paying staff for the first three days of any period of sickness absence in line with the approach used by private sector prisons to manage sickness absence."
Committee chairman Conservative MP Edward Leigh told BBC News: "We were promised years ago, our committee, by the Prison Service that they were going to try and get this down. They've woefully failed to meet their targets.
"It's undoubtedly true if you look at the private prisons that they have a much better record." He said if the Prison Service were to meet its target, then around 1,000 extra staff would be available for duty, easing the burden on their colleagues.
Prison Officers' Association head Colin Moses said criticism had not taken into account the high levels of assault on prison staff as well as the fact that the service was understrength by almost 2,000 people.
A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said the organisation now had a "strong grip" on sickness management and matters were "expected to improve".
Jayne Blake, governor of the Hindley young offenders institution, where staff took an average of 20 days off sick per year, said the figures should also show how much sick time was due to assaults on staff.
Ms Blake said her institution was tackling high sickness levels and had already cut levels by five days a year.
"We have a large range of interventions varying from occupational health advisers... to counselling and types of physiotherapy.
"Working with the Prison Service is a stressful occupation. We at Hindley deal with young people... Some teenagers are very demanding individuals.
"Members of staff do on occasion get assaulted. Maybe we should remove the periods covered by these assaults from the stats."
Do you work in a prison? We would like to hear why you think so much sick leave is taken by prison staff. Send us your comments and experiences using the form.
Your comments:
| I was forced to leave the service as any alternative work they suggested was so demeaning and soul destroying |
I spent over nine years as a serving prison officer until I was assaulted which led to a period of long term sickness. During this time I received no support from the management until I was told to either return to work or be dismissed for poor attendance. In the end I was forced to leave the service as any alternative work they suggested was so demeaning and soul destroying that I felt I couldn't do it as it did not take into account any skills that I had to offer.
However, let us not forget the conditions that staff have to work in. During my time the prison had a capacity of 800 inmates but we had to look after over 1,100 with no extra staff or facilities. Sometimes two staff had to look after over 40 inmates which leads to increases in stress and the opportunity to find yourself outnumbered in a potentially violent situation. This has not changed in the short time I have been away from the service.
Chris, Staffordshire
I have been in the prison service for 13 years and have seen many colleagues destroyed by this job. The figures quoted in the press are so misleading if there is no difference between staff assault sickness and all other forms. As stated, we have a 2,000 staff shortfall across the estate which increases the workload on the rest of us. I defy any other type of workplace to carry this kind of deficit and not have casualties, let alone do the job we do. The Home Office has put a managed recruitment ban in force since 6th December last year so our short falls are ever increasing as are the tasks we are expected to carry out. Every week we learn of a new civilian initiative which is flavour of the month. They a do a good job, but it is uniforms on the landings that are needed but continue to be undervalued. Does the government intend to stop the first three days of sick pay for the MPs whose idea this was? Maybe we could swap overalls for a month and see who fares the best!
The government needs to stop strangling us, give us at least the minimum resources we need to do the job and take the inaccurate sickness figures out of their numbers. At the end of the day you can only save so much until it's impossible to fulfil the requirements. Give us what we need and watch the numbers come down.
Paul Shepherd, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
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