Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 31 October 2012.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 31 October 2012 were noted.

No declarations of interest were made.

Representatives of the Council and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have been invited to the meeting to discuss the challenges facing these two organisations as employers in dealing with mental illness in its workforce.

(i) Kathy Heaton, Learning & Development Services Manager, Stockport Council, attended the meeting and gave an overview of the policies and processes followed by the Council when an employee reported mental health problems.

An information note was also submitted (copies of which were circulated) providing background and statistical information.

In summary, once the Council received notification that an employee was having mental health problems then a referral would be made to Occupational Health and the employee would also be offered counselling, provided by Relate. Depending on the circumstances, an employee may also be offered the opportunity to have physio-therapy. The employee would be monitored in accordance with the Sickness Absence Policy, although where mental health was a concern this would be driven by that employee’s needs.

Since the end of 2009 there had been a steady increase in the number of Full Time Equivalent days lost where the employee was classed as being absent due to ‘Stress, Depression, Anxiety, Mental Health, Fatigue’. This had coincided with reductions in staffing, although there was no evidence this was the cause. However, the Council had responded to this trend and introduced additional support for employees on managing and coping with change.

Councillors asked questions and made comments. The following issues were raised:-

·         Redeployment of staff with recurrent stress-related problems needed to be handled carefully so as to minimise disruption, but the manager of the service receiving the redeployed employee would need to be aware of their history. The Council’s aim with redeployment was to avoid dismissal.

·         The counselling provided was confidential and no feedback was provided to the Council. The Council would also seek to signpost and work with other agencies where there was an external cause of ill-health, such as domestic violence, etc.

·         The Coding used in the Sickness Absence procedures was a broad one, and may mask the variation in the conditions involved, although being more specific in the Codes may make them less useful for data reporting purposes and discourage accurate reporting from employees. The needs of employees with mental health problems were addressed on a case-by-case basis.

·         The managerial culture of an organisation had a significant impact on the level of sickness absence, particularly the managerial response to such incidences. Local authorities were often stressful environments, but also provided the most support.

·         Those in middle-management were often most vulnerable, because they were often in the position to have to implement changes they themselves were not wholly capable of influencing. There was specific support available to managers as part of the managing change process.

·         The Council had a training programme for all those involved in managing staff. This included elements that helped train managers to ‘tease out’ underlying problems. Where significant changes in legislation or policy arose these were disseminated through briefings.

·         Where an employee needed time off for treatment or counselling etc., the Council aimed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate these needs. It did not encourage employees to use their lunch breaks for this purpose.

·         Tackling work-place bullying was a difficult issue and required the employee involved to come forward before action could be taken. Such cases were rare at the Council, but it was stressed that employees needed confidence in policies and procedures, such as the whistleblowing policy, so that problems were reported.

·         There were examples from other public sector employers, such as the PCT, where staff who had been dismissed on health grounds, including mental health, were able to ‘return to work’ on zero-hour contracts, which helped them back into other employment.

·         An emphasis on minimising sickness absence may have the unintended consequence of increasing early retirements due to ill-health, thereby not contributing to overall employee wellbeing.

·         Many cases of absence, whether classified as mental health related or otherwise, may be connected to issues with drug and alcohol dependency. It was difficult for managers to identify these cases if employees did not present  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chair suggested that the Scrutiny Committee hold at least one further meeting in January/ February 2013 to discuss the outcomes of the review, including identifying any further areas they would wish to consider.

It was suggested that the Scrutiny Committee consider further issues surrounding the causes of stress in the workplace; and inequalities and wellbeing.

RESOLVED – That the Democratic Services Manager, in consultation with the Chair, be requested to arrange for a further extraordinary meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to take place in late January/ early February 2013.