THOUSANDS of pounds of council taxpayers' money has been saved by a council's commitment to reducing sickness absences among its employees.

Ferryhill Town Council has one of the lowest staff absenteeism records in the country, according to latest figures.

Local government employees take an average of five days off sick every year throughout the country.

The average in the public sector as a whole is 4.6 days per employee. For all sectors the figure is 3.9 days.

But average staff absentee rates in Ferryhill in the last financial year was 1.5 days, and this year the figure has dropped further to 0.87 days.

The low sick rate represents a saving of about £12,000 a year out of the town council's budget.

Jamie Corrigan, the council's executive officer, said: "These are exceptionally low figures. We have a policy of monitoring staff absenteeism, which is obviously working.

"We monitor people's absences, so if there appears to be a problem we try to address it by looking at flexible working, or to see if we can assist staff who have a sickness problem.

"We are an Investors in People organisation trying to look after our staff, and this must demonstrate that our staff are relatively content in their work."

The town council employs 24 staff, working in administration, horticulture and youth work.

The attitude to staff absenteeism was a major factor in Ferryhill winning the national Council of the Year award, in competition with 9,500 organisations in the country.

The competition has been run by the National Association of Local Councils for more than 40 years, but Ferryhill is the first authority from the North-East to win it.

Council leader Councillor Arthur Denton said: "This shows that we have satisfied and content staff who were a fundamental part of us being named the best in the country."

Ferryhill Town Council is now aiming for Quality Town Council status, a Government initiative, and is in the process of producing a portfolio of evidence to support its claim.