Internal Audit
Milton Keynes Council
ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT
Internal Audit – Final Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 AUDIT AREA
An audit of Attendance Management has been carried out in accordance with the annual audit plan, with a particular focus on the reporting of sickness.
2 AUDIT OPINION
Limited Assurance – Some controls exist but inconsistency in application by
managers undermines the value of these controls.
However, the implementation of MK Council’s Employee and Management Self Service (ESS/MSS) should address many of the weaknesses identified and in turn raise the opinion to Satisfactory. The Management culture around Attendance Management must also improve which may result in a Good rating being achievable in future audits.
3 AUDIT CONCLUSIONS
3.1 Although there are Policies and Procedures in place these are not fully complied with throughout the council by management resulting in failure to record and monitor sickness absence. The result is:
under reporting of actual sickness on payroll
poor management of staff sickness contributing to further unnecessary absence
potential financial losses
There is no evidence to suggest that Managers are currently held accountable for non-compliance with the Attendance Management policies.
3.2 There are no standard processes used to record employee attendance including flexi-time working. As a result the flex-time/TOIL policies have been breached in some areas. Furthermore, there is a potential risk that staff do not work the hours for which they are paid.
3.3 Human Resources (HR) have been working closely on a sickness absence/attendance management pilot with Neighbourhood Services and this has improved the reporting of sickness absence.
3.4 Training has highlighted the importance of Attendance Management to Managers and attendees report they feel more empowered as a result to take appropriate action when dealing with attendance issues.
4 THE FUTURE
4.1 All actions are in the Management Action Plan (Page 7). Detailed findings from the audit are reported within the Main Report in Section 7.
4.2 The introduction of ESS/MSS should address many of the control weaknesses identified in this report. The roll out of ESS/MSS is due to start in August 2012, subject to satisfactory pilot outcomes.
4.3 There need to be cultural improvements across the council that ensure all managers comply with the Management Attendance Policies and use of ESS/MSS. Some further improvements could be achieved by HR Advisory working closely with the Service Groups as it has done with Neighbourhood Services and once the learning from the pilot programme has been reviewed. Furthermore, management at all levels must be made accountable for non-compliance with Attendance Management Policies.
4.4 As systems of recording improve, reported sickness levels may increase. As the culture improves and sickness is better managed sickness absence levels may then reduce.
MAIN REPORT
5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
5.1 Employees are the Council’s biggest asset. The Attendance Management Policy states that ‘The Council recognises that employee absences have an adverse impact on colleagues, workloads and service delivery. The purpose of the policy is to ensure a consistent and fair approach to managing issues of non-attendance and to minimise employee absence through positive attendance management.’ Along with the supporting Toolkit the policy specifies the responsibilities of line managers, employees and human resources in promoting good attendance.
5.2 Line managers are responsible for managing their employees attendance in respect of the adherence to contracted hours, flexi-time regulations (where applicable), annual leave entitlement and authorising other absence types. 5.3 HR oversees the collation and reporting of absence data for the whole council
and supports line managers in dealing with absences within their teams. HR advisory currently spend approximately 45% of their time on managing attendance and case work has increased following recent pilots to address employee absences when sickness reaches the 4+ trigger (4 periods of sickness in a rolling 6 month period). Over a period of time this work has resulted in improvements in reducing sickness absence within the pilot areas and improved workforce information.
5.4 The Council’s new Employee and Manager Self-Service (piloted since May 2012), aims to reduce the number of routine information requests and transactions made directly to HR personnel and allow employees to have direct access to view and modify their own information. It will provide a centralised record for access to management data including attendance and non-attendance management. However, HR will continue to monitor sickness absence at a high level and provide line managers with monthly sickness absence reports and support in dealing with long term sickness absence. 5.5 Statistics
The statistics shown below are based on reported data. However, as highlighted the data does not reflect actual sickness because not all sickness is reported.
SUM of FTE absence days lost to sickness 2011/12 **
Total number of employees
0 701
More than zero less than 5 609 5 or more, less than 10 299 10 or more less than 25 264
25 or more 188
Grand Total 2061
** The above report was produced by HR on request from Audit. This information currently is not readily available from the HR system but instead required a detailed manipulation of data by HR staff to provide this information.
Annual Corporate Sickness per FTE (Incl Schools)
Year Corporate
Benchmark
Actual CIPFA Benchmarking (all unitary average)
2011/12 8.0 * 9.39
2010/11 8.0 10.83 9.10
2009/10 - 8.17 9.50
Annual Corporate Sickness per FTE (Excl Schools)
Year Corporate
Benchmark
Actual CIPFA Benchmarking (all unitary average)
2011/12 10.80 11.17 Not available 2010/11 10.80 11.89 Not available 2009/10 - 10.44 Not available
*awaiting figures from Strictly Ed
Illness Type Total FTE days lost 2011/12
Stress 5044.16 Infection 3617.95 Other Musculo 3500.58 Stomach etc 2252.90 Back, Neck 1871.58 Neurological 1210.59
Eye, Ear Mouth 928.47
Genito, Menst 892.56 Heart, Circula 824.44 Other Types 760.25 Chest, Resp 555.47 Pregnancy 360.53 Dermatological 173.14 Grand Total 21992.61 4.28%
Total available FTE days 514071.17
6 AUDIT SCOPE & AREAS/SCORES
6.1 To establish the degree of adherence to current policies and procedures, Audit reviewed the current Attendance Management processes in place to record and monitor attendance, sickness absence, annual leave and flexi-time/TOIL, with 22 managers. A sample of employees’ attendance records were also reviewed and where applicable checked back to payroll’s records.
To ensure that managers follow due process with regards to attendance management. (Management responsibilities)
** Key: 1 = Poor, 3 = Good
** Whilst some departments comply with Attendance Management Policy the weaknesses that exist across the council and the lack of enforcement of Policy results in a score of 1.
7 DETAILED FINDINGS
7.1 Sickness Absence
7.1.1 Internal Audit identified sickness absences that had gone unreported on payroll. For instance, in one service area, that maintains good records, 5% of sickness absence was not reported to payroll. For those departments that do not maintain good records it is not possible for Internal Audit to quantify the level on non-reported sickness. See Management Action Plan reference 1a.
7.1.2 5 out of 22 departments have no system to centrally record sick leave. This makes it difficult for managers to readily monitor sickness absence. See Management Action Plan reference 1b.
7.1.3 Further to a conversation with the payroll manager, it is noted that ESS/MSS will help to ensure that sickness is recorded for those employees on flexi-time working because managers will have to record sickness absence in order for flexi-time balances to be correct. However, this will not ensure that the formal return to work process with staff is carried out.
7.1.4 14 out of 22 managers do not consistently complete Return to Work forms and formal interviews. Instead for shorter periods of absence an informal discussion takes place. See Management Action Plan reference 2a.
7.1.5 Copies of Sickness Notification Forms and Return to Work Interview forms are not always retained by 8 out of 22 managers. See Management Action Plan reference 2b.
7.2 General Attendance Records
7.2.1 Most departments do use a flex-time recording system although currently there are a variety of different systems used, even sometimes within the same department. However in some departments there is no checking of timesheets to ensure accuracy of time recorded. See Management Action Plan reference 1c.
7.2.2 The following types of variances from the flexi-time policy were noted:
Start time recorded before 8am however, often this was due to a legitimate business need or in agreement with the manager
5+ hours worked without a 30 minute break being taken
Carried forward credit within 4 week period over the 15 hour allowance, however sometimes this was in agreement with the manager
See Management Action Plan reference 1d.
7.3 Training
7.3.1 Managers reported the Attendance Management Training has helped them to enforce the sickness absence policies. However, out of the 22 managers interviewed, 7 had not attended either the full Attendance Management Training or the Bite Size Training. See Management Action Plan 3.
7.4 Management Information
7.4.1 HR Advisory’s recent pilot on the 4+ trigger issue resulted in an increase in case work for HR advisory. However, over a period of time, sickness absence decreased demonstrating the benefits of improved management.
7.4.2 The statistics shown in the background of the report were provided by HR. However, it is noted that for some statistics HR have to do a lot of manipulation of the data in order to obtain statistics that could be of value in strategically managing sickness and to provide further support to managers in their operational management of absence. See Management Action Plan 4.
MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN
The Agreed Actions are categorised on the following basis:
Essential - Implementation is required to address a risk that fundamentally undermines the control or objective of that system. Important - Implementation is required to address a risk that seriously undermines the control or objective of that system.
Standard - Implementation is required to address a risk that undermines the control or objective of that system.
Ref. Findings Risk/
Implication
Agreed Action Management Comments Manager Responsible & (Target Date) 1a 1b 1c 1d Sickness Absence
Sickness absence is not always reported to payroll.
A central record of sick leave absence is not currently maintained by all managers
General Attendance Management
Various time recording systems are used across the council and in some departments there is no independent check of timesheets.
Flexi-time working
There are breaches of the flexi-time policy
Under reporting of sickness Poor staff management Potential financial loss. Potential for inaccurate recording of actual hours worked Potential impact on individuals’ well-being and/or service delivery Essential
Following the ESS/MSS pilot and review of lessons learned, subject to Project Board approval, ESS/MSS to be rolled out across the council at the earliest appropriate opportunity. Agreed . AD HR Strategy/ HR SDM 31 December 2012
2a
2b
2c
Sickness Absence
Formal and documented Return to Work Interviews are not undertaken for short periods of absence.
Managers are not currently retaining a local copy of Sickness Notifications Forms and/or Return to Work Interview forms.
General Attendance Management
Section 1a-d above highlights that ESS/MSS will help achieve improved sickness reporting, time recording and compliance with the flexi-time policy. However, if managers are not accountable for personal failure and failure of their staff to use ESS then ESS/MSS will not provide the benefits expected.
Poor staff management Unnecessary absenteeism Failure to use ESS/MSS or inaccurate/ fraudulent reporting of time Essential
Following a review and evaluation of the work that HR Advisory has done with Neighbourhood Services to consider rolling this out across all Service Groups. Once it is believed that Managers are following procedures effectively then to avoid further constraints on resources, HR’s involvement will need to adjust accordingly with Management Information being used to manage future compliance.
All levels of staff, across the council, must use ESS/MSS, especially for recorded sickness absence. Managers must check staff timesheets, where applicable, on a regular basis to ensure that timesheets are being completed correctly. Whilst ESS/MSS should allow variances to flexi-time policy, at management discretion and in line with service needs (the exception rather than the rule) the independent check of timesheets should ensure that this allowance is not abused.
Regular review of records and Management Information should be undertaken to ensure all staff are using ESS/MSS as expected. Council policy should reflect that failure to record information accurately through self service ie time recording as expected, is potentially a disciplinary offence.
Agreed, subject to full consideration of the costs and benefits. Agreed AD HR Strategy/ HR SDM 31 December 2012 (for the review and evaluation) AD HR Strategy/ HR SDM 31 December 2012
3 Attendance Management (AM)Training
Despite the mandatory requirement to attend AM training not all managers have attended the training course.
Poor staff management.
Important
HR to provide further information about AM training opportunities to managers. Participation should be monitored and reported to senior managers.
Agreed AD HR Strategy/ HR SDM
31 October 2012
4 Management Information
Within the current systems used, there is no facility to easily extract data to accurately breakdown short term and long term sickness per employee. Additionally the same applies to breaking down the reasons for long term absence.
Long term absence not managed effectively.
Important
Existing plans to improve MI reporting on sickness absence with the implementation of ESS/MSS to be activated as soon as feasible post implementation
Consideration needs to be given to the reports required to allow strategic management of sickness absence and ensure that these can be easily obtained from ESS/MSS.
There is no intention to change to the MI reporting (unless we agree further investment in configuration of a more sophisticated report) but data accuracy would be an outcome which the team (MI&BP) would be analysing closely with line managers
AD HR Strategy/ HR SDM
31 December 2012
E620/13 - ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT
Final Report
Distribution ListCorporate Director - Resources Assistant Director HR Strategy HR SDM
Assistant Director Financial Management Member with Portfolio for Finance
Audit Commission
Lynda Baker – Head of Internal Audit Karen Hall– Auditor
Milton Keynes Council
Civic Offices 1Saxon Gate East Central Milton Keynes MK9 3EJ T 01908 252753 F 01908 252238 E internal.audit@milton-keynes.gov.uk W www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/internal audit
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