To consider an oral report of the Director of Human Resources.

The Head of HR Operations gave the Committee an overview of the Council’s sick pay scheme, which gave staff members 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay and they could apply to extend pay beyond those limits.

The Head of HR Operations then updated the Committee on the current position regarding sickness exemptions. During Q3 there had been 8 exception requests from 4 of the Council’s 6 directorates. Of those 8 requests 7 had been approved and one had been withdrawn. Of the 7 that were approved 6 had since been resolved either by returning to work or by accessing retirement and the other 1 was still ongoing. Within Q4 there had been a total of 11 requests made with all of them being approved. The majority of the requests were related to cancer and neurological conditions and all 11 had been resolved. The Head of HR Operations concluded the overview by informing the Committee that the Council had seen an increase in the complexity of the conditions staff were suffering from.

Following the overview Committee Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions but none were raised.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.