Printed for the Cabinet. July 1949
83
Page 170-
SECRETtr
C.P. (49) 156
20th July, 1949
CABINET
:
Copy No.
31
INVOLUNTARY ABSENTEEISM IN THE ROYAL ORDNANCE
FACTORIES
MEMORANDUM BY THE MINISTER OF SUPPLY
At the meeting of the Cabinet on 2nd June (C.M. (49) 40th Conclusions, Minute 3), I was invited to circulate a paper on the recent increase in the rate of involuntary absenteeism in the Royal Ordnance Factories.
2. The scheme of paid sick leave for Government industrial employees, which came into operation on 1st September, 1948, and which is subject to review at the end of two years from that time, provides, in brief, that, after a qualifying period of service of six months, employees may, in any period of one year, be granted sick leave with full pay up to a maximum of thirteen weeks, less any National Insurance benefit. Full pay means the employee's ordinary time rate, but the first three days of sickness are not paid for unless absence extends to five days. After five years' qualifying service a further period of leave on half pay may be given. The issue of pay is conditional upon production of medical evidence of incapacity furnished by a qualified medical practitioner, and, in practice, there is accepted for purposes of the Scheme the same certificate as is issued by the private doctor (normally National Health Service doctor) for National Insurance purposes.
3. The percentage of working days lost by industrial employees of the Royal Ordnance Factories on account of absence covered by medical certificate in each of the months following the introduction of the Scheme, with comparable figures for the preceding five years, is shown in the following table :--
Month
1948-49 1947-48 1946-47
1945-46
1944-45 1943-44
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent.
cent
cent.
cent.
cent.
cent.
September
3.5
2.5
3.0
4.7
5.7
6.2
October
5.1
2.8
3.2
5.2
5.8
6.4
November
6.0
2.9
3.4
5.3
5.4
7.4
...
December
6.1
2.7
2.9
5.1
5.3
7.6
...
January
7.6
3.2
4.5
.6.1
6.7
7.2
February March
8.1
3.1
5.0
5.5
6.1
6.5
9.0
2.7
4.3
4.8
5.3
6.1
April
7.1
2.4
3.0
3.6
4.7
5.3
4. Even allowing for some variation in the incidence of sickness from year to year, these figures show, that, taking the Royal Ordinance Factories as a whole, there was a marked increase in absences due to certified sickness compared with the year preceding the introduction of the Scheme. The increase is not so marked if a comparagesimodo fich earlier years, but the years 1943-Bagete warf fea2s when many of the employees were on a three-shift system, were suffering the effects of fire-watching, black-out, long hours and difficult transport, and there
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