SICK leave by staff is to be targeted by City of York Council in an effort to save hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Council bosses are proposing to pilot a new system to cut sickness absence in its 1,000-strong adult services department, which loses 28 days per full-time staff member each year, at a cost of £2.3 million.

This is more than twice the council average of 12.2 days and compares to a social services average in unitary authorities of 15.9 days.

Under the proposed scheme, adult services employees - home and residential carers, and social workers - would no longer contact their line manager when they are sick, but private healthcare organisation Active Health.

They will speak to a qualified occupational health nurse, who will give advice on how best to treat their symptoms and make follow-up checks on their pro-gress when required.

The Active Health call centre will also inform the individual's manager of the illness and advise on support they may require on their return to work.

Stephen Forrest, the council's human resources services manager, said: "Studies have shown that offering people advice and support in this way means that they are able to return to work more quickly. Clearly, this eases the pressure on colleagues who have had to cover for them during their absence and saves the council money."

Active Health has offered the service to private sector organisations in the UK and local government bodies in Scandinavia, reducing sickness absence by at least 30 per cent over the course of a year.

York would be the first local authority in the country to trial the scheme and bosses are hoping to achieve a £172,000 saving during the proposed three-month pilot.

Union bosses from Unison are being consulted about the scheme, but were unavailable for comment today.

The council's 7,500 employees are its biggest expense and account for almost 80 per cent of its budget.

Councillors will vote on Monday on whether the pilot scheme can go ahead.

Updated: 14:27 Wednesday, August 18, 2004