A COUNCIL'S customer services centre has been constantly hit this year by high levels of sick leave among workers.

At least ten per cent of all staff at the Wycombe District Council department have been off at any one time during the year up until September, a report to councillors illustrates.

In June, the sick leave in the centre, based at the council offices in Queen Victoria Road, peaked at 16 per cent. At the same time, nine per cent of the staff were on leave - meaning one quarter of all workers were absent.

The centre has around 27 full time equivalent posts and handles between 18,000 to 22,000 inquiries per month from the public, including benefit and council tax calls.

The staff there are understood to work in one of the most stressful and pressurised parts of the council.

The report, in an information sheet to councillors, outlined ways of managing sickness absence.

The sheet explained that although individual advisor productivity had increased, the benefit of this had been lost due to reduced staff availability and, in particular, to very high sickness levels.

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