COUNCIL employees may be given an extra day off after the authority performed well in a national assessment.

Hartlepool Borough Council received an excellent mark in the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

It is the third year the council has picked up the award, and in previous years, to acknowledge the role played by staff, they have been granted an additional day off.

The council's performance management portfolio is expected to look at the issue again.

School employees will not receive an extra day off and alternative ways of recognising their contribution are being investigated.