STRESS-related illnesses are to blame for high absenteeism at many of the North-East councils, union bosses said yesterday.

New government figures show that council staff in the region took an average of 11.4 days off ill last year. Chester-le-Street District Council was the second worst in the country, with 17 days off.

With 600 employees at the council, that amounts to 10,200 days lost to sickness.

Even in comparison with other public sector workers, the region's councils fare badly. At Durham Constabulary, officers and support staff take an average of 11.2 days off ill a year, while teachers in the countytake 6.5.

Workers at County Durham and Darlington Health Authority take an average of 1.5 days off sick a year.

Nationally, each worker now takes an average of ten days off sick a year - 25 per cent higher than staff from private firms.

The Northern Echo asked Gill Hale, regional secretary of the public service union Unison, about the trend. Lynne Robson, Unison's head of local government, was off work ill, ironically.

Ms Hale said: "I am not at all surprised by the high level of absenteeism in local government at the moment.

"There is a lot of pressure due to constant changes and reorganisations and this has led to stress-related illness.

"We get a lot of complaints from members about pressure they are under from strategic partnerships, best value and contracting jobs out. And talk about having council league tables only adds to the pressure.

"NHS employees, for instance, often get the media attention about their pay and conditions, but people forget the constant demands on council workers."

With the second worst record in the country, Chester-le-Street has set up a working party to look at the problem.

Council leader Malcolm Pratt said: "We will support any employee who is genuinely ill, but anybody found pulling the wool over our eyes will face action.

"We have set up a working party to investigate the reasons for staff sickness."

Stephen Byers, the local government minister, has revealed plans to classify councils as either high-performing, striving, coasting, or poor-performing.

Under-performing councils could be put into government administration, while the best will be given extra freedoms.