I must be stupid.Surely a valid doctors sicknote is enough to prove someone is ill. I am all for checking the people who have many frequent odd days off here and there but I feel the council is in danger of losing some of its hardworking and committed staff due to them genuinely being unfortunatly sick and being hounded and asked to go into offices to prove that their doctors are correct.Its absolutely ridiculous,shame on you Tameside Council.

   May I say that you are very lucky Councillor Taylor then - some of TMBC's employees are not as fortunate to have not been off sick for 22 years. Sometimes people are admitted to hospital with a illness beyond their control and therefore, as much as they would like to carry on as normal - unfortuately consultants/ward staff will not allow day release whilst attached to drips/monitors etc after undergoing major surgery.

Also Councillor Taylor I would like to point out that sometimes women staff are off sick due to women's operations that lucky men don't have to endure but we are still targeted for the sickness procedures and this is not taken into account.

When staff are off sick it is my experience that genuine sickness (with both GP sicknotes/hospital sicknotes and long term sickness) are still included within the sickness procedure and no support is given to staff. Regardless of previous years services with a low sickness record.

Regarding coming into work when we are sick - some staff are being forced into doing just that because they are being monitored or on warning and by doing that could be putting people we work with at risk (both colleagues and the public) - Are you saying that is right?

All we ask is that genuine sickness is taken into account.

   My job is to see that managers carry out the councils proceedures on sickness absence ,my investigations and interviews clearly show that some dont and that some employees take many days off sick with out being managed the vast majority off staff take no time off and even work when ill ,I will continue to ensure that those who continually take time off sick are managed within the agreed proceedures ,we are all here to provide services we cant do it if we `are not in I have not had a day off for over twenty two years I have been ill many times but still gone to work because thats what I get paid for .

   I work for Tameside MBC & have also been 'spoken to' about my sickness. My managers were concerned that I been off 4 times in one year - that year included the deaths of both my parents and a very close friend! Councillor John Taylor should be made aware that the sick days have only reduced because staff are told to take annual leave instead of sick days! Management in my area have recently awarded themselves pay increases & are at a loss to understand why we are not happy for them. Councillor Taylor also speaks about an average pay of B#20,000. Where on earth does he get his information from? Average pay for Tameside employees is around B#14,000 and we have been told that out of the 10 Greater Manchester Authorities, Tameside pays the 9th lowest salaries. Get your facts right Councillor!

   Just to comment on the paragraph (When this happens the employee is called in for an interview to justify the time they have had off. If they cannot they are given a warning) they are also given a warning if they "can" justify the time they have had off. John Taylor says that there are 20 people under a warning but dozens have been given improvement notices which lead to written warnings. Improvement notices are warnings in my opinion, staff are told at interviews that this process could ultimately lead to their dismissal. We understand that some employees may swing the lead but this policy shows them exactly how not to hit the triggers and unfortunatelyit is employees with genuine illness that are being penalised as the easy targets. It would appear that statistics, graphs and figures are more important to Tameside council than peoples health.

   This is exactly the same thing that is happening within the Civil Service.

I work for Department for Work and Pensions(DWP), Jobcentreplus, and have been before a previous manager for a Welcome Back to work interview following a period of sickness. I was told that because I had exceeded the 8 day limit I have to be given a oral warning. At the time I had been off work for 4 months due to depression. What was the managements solution to my illness before I went off sick? I was told to smile more as it is bad for the customers to see me looking so miserable and will make me feel better!

Needless to say I returned to work before I was really fully recovered, and it was only with the help of Public and Commercial Services union(PCS) help was I moved to a less stressful job.

It is time that management actually spoke to their staff and asked what is making them suffer stress and other illnesses, instead of forcing us to return to work early or even not take any time off at all.

The cartoon by Tony Husband really hit the nail on the head. I'm sure this is how management would like it to be.