Moray Council is to deliver a ‘major project’ to boost staff attendance following an increase in absence rates.

The ‘spend to save’ Improving Attendance Project is supported by an investment of up to £89,000 from the Transformation Fund and will involve a pilot scheme being rolled out in schools to help address absence issues among teachers and support staff.

The one-year project has been launched by the council due to trends revealing ‘high levels of staff sickness absence recently highlighted to committees’.

According to the local authority, up to 15.7 days per staff member are lost annually, which represents a substantial increase upon previous years.

The council has outlined its goals of cutting absence rates by 10% in the first year of the project, which would create savings of roughly £332,000 in supply cover costs.

As part of the strategy, the project will provide two HR advisers to help manage absence cases, early intervention procedures, increased resources to foster a wellbeing culture in the workplace, and more availability for school leaders to ‘concentrate on improving teaching and learning rather than managing absence’.

Alongside the financial benefits of the scheme, the local authority has also outlined advantages such as greater classroom stability and decreased pupil disruption, as well as improved staff wellbeing and workload management.

Moray Council Leader, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said: ‘While the council acknowledges the seriousness of the issue and the notable increase in sickness absence in Moray, we should also note the national trend of rising sickness absence across all local authorities.

‘What matters is that Moray Council now acts decisively. This project will provide dedicated support to schools, promote staff wellbeing, and ensure pupils get the consistent learning experience they deserve.’

For more on workplace wellbeing, check out 10 ways councils can boost staff retention.