Prison sick leave rates hit record levels in 2006

Prison service:Rates of sick leave in the Prison Service reached record levels last year, with prison officers in two jails taking an average of 40 days a year in sick leave, according to the CA&G's report.

These highest levels were recorded in Cork and Mountjoy women's prisons, while prison officers in Portlaoise and Limerick jails took an average of more than 35 days' sick leave last year.

Rates of sick leave among prison officers have continued to climb despite widespread concern about the issue, expressed in recent years by former minister for justice Michael McDowell and in reports by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee and by the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell.

Mr Purcell's report said there had been a significant deterioration in the situation since he examined the issue in a 2002 report. At that time, the average number of sick days taken by prison officers was 19, but this increased to 26.4 last year. Total sick days in the Prison Service increased from 60,544 in 2002 to 82,580 last year.

The report finds major variations across prisons. The lowest rates were recorded in smaller institutions such as Beladd and Loughan House, with an annual average of 10 and 11 sick days respectively.

Prison officers in Mountjoy Prison took an average of 22 days a year in sick leave, while this figure rose to 30 in St Patrick's Institution. Even the building services unit of the Prison Service recorded an average of 21 days' sick leave.

Mr Purcell said the past five years were a time of major change in the Prison Service, with the negotiation of an annualised hours agreement to replace overtime payments to prison officers and the decentralisation of the service's headquarters to Longford. These changes affected management's ability to address the sick leave issue.

However, he asked why so little progress had been made since his last report on the issue five years ago.

The Prison Service responded by saying it had tackled the sick leave problem "at its very root cause - the pernicious overtime system".

Stricter measures had also been introduced to control absenteeism, it said, with officers being regularly and severely warned of the consequences of taking excessive sick leave.

In April 2007, 132 officers were on a schedule of leave without pay, 94 had the privilege of payment for uncertified sick leave withdrawn, and 14 had been issued with notice that they were being considered for dismissal.

One officer had been dismissed and a number had their probation terminated.

In addition, a psychologist had been employed to work with prison staff and an anti-harassment and bullying policy had been introduced.

The service said these changes were beginning to take effect. According to figures supplied to Mr Purcell for the first four months of this year, per capita sick leave rates had fallen by 10 per cent.

The annualised hours system, which removed the incentive to take sick leave, was making savings of €30 million a year.

The Prison Service said a breakdown of payments made to officers when absent on sick leave was not available, nor were overtime figures for last year. However, in 2003, annual overtime expenditure was €59 million.

The number of prison officers increased from 2,300 in 1992 to almost 3,150 last year.