Council staff in Hounslow took more than a week-and-a-half off sick on average each year, almost double the national average number of days.

Data obtained from a Freedom of Information request shows staff at Hounslow Council took 17,866 days off sick during the 2017/18 financial year, ending on March 31, 2018, costing the council a huge £2,350,955 in pay for unworked hours.

There were 2,346 council staff employed during that year and while it is not know how many days off individual employees had, each member of staff had an average of 7.6 days off sick according to the total figure.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average for 2017 across all work sectors was 4.1 days.

The council says it had 31 people on long-term sick at the end of the financial year which would significantly reduce the council average to just under seven days.

But it still means some 123,823 working hours were lost to sickness during the year.

The largest number of days lost was in the Adult Safeguarding Social Care and Health department where 4,326 days were lost.

This was followed by Early Intervention and Education with 4,147.5 days and Children’s Safeguarding and Specialist Services, where 1,090 days were lost.

But these levels were previously even higher.

In the year to March 2017, 21,622 days were lost to sickness, equating to 148,087 hours and costing the council £2,845,200 in pay for unworked hours.

This equates to an average of 8.6 days off for each of the council's 2,488 employees in this year. It is more than double the national average for 2017 of 4.1 days.

How may days off sick did you take last year?

However, there were 44 people on long-term sick at the end of that year.

The year before that, up to March 2016, a total of 23,422 days were lost, equating to 161,641 and costing the council £3,082059. This means each member of staff took an average of 8.8 days off sick. The national average for 2016 was 4.3 days.

However the council listed 38 people on long-term sickness.

The council says it monitors its sickness rates closely and is reviewing the way it manages absences.

It also points out, however, that around two-thirds of London boroughs have higher sickness rates than Hounslow and that the council has less sickness than many other areas of the public sector.

Councillor Katherine Dunne, cabinet member for communities and workforce, said: “The council closely monitors the sickness absence levels of our staff and senior management review the performance on a quarterly basis.

"At the end of June, the average days lost to sickness was 6.73 - slightly in excess of our corporate target of 6 days.

"Around two thirds of London boroughs currently have higher average sickness levels than the London Borough of Hounslow and the public sector average is 8.7 days lost to sickness.

“We actively manage sickness absence and will take action, as required. Currently we are reviewing our management of absence policy to ensure that the correct support systems are in place for staff who are unwell and that appropriate and effective procedures are in place to deal with ongoing non-attendance."