The Civil Service has developed a complex set of rules and procedures in relation to sick leave and these arrangements form a significant part of the terms and conditions of employment of all civil servants. The policy was updated in 2007. Since then, a further up date and revision of the policy has been developed and presented to the Staff Unions. This policy takes on board the concerns raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General 2009 Special Report on Sickness Absence in the Civil Service, and provides a general framework of guidelines on more efficient management of sick leave. The policy is also aimed at reducing absence from work which should result in reduction in cost of sick leave.
As the Deputy will be aware, the day to day management of sickness absence rests with each Government Department or Office. My Department is working with Civil Service Departments and Offices to ensure development of appropriate systems of absence management, in line with best practice, and to ensure that Departments/Offices give a high priority to their proper implementation. Each Department has IT systems to record attendance and absences in the Civil Service namely a Time and Attendance system and a Human Resource Management System (HRMS). These systems form one part of absence management/controls and are aimed at complementing the non-IT systems, the manual business processes in place for checking, cross referencing and validating absences, thus providing an overall robust system for absence management in organisations. The management of Sick Leave in the Public Service is a matter for the relevant Minister.