ABC_data_Workforce Report AB IJB November 2025

Argyll and Bute Council · 19 November 2025
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 19 November 2025 and its agenda

Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.

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Page 1

WORKFORCE REPORT
Argyll & Bute IJB
November 2025

Page 2

CONTENT
•Introduction
•Headcount and WTE
•Workforce Profile
•Vacancies
•Sickness Absence
•Employee Relations(Aug-25)
•Redeployment
•Mandatory Training
•Appraisals
20XX 2

Page 3

INTRODUCTION
The Workforce Report considers the workforce position as of 30th September 2025, providing high level
information for A&B HSCP. Some sections may represent an alternative timeline and will be
highlighted.
The report has been developed in partnership and aims to shows the current position, trends and
highlights where there have been changes and progress from previous periods as well as actions that
are being taken to address some of the areas of concern. 
The Workforce Systems Teams proactively assesses data quality based on agreed data quality principles
that are part of the data quality framework and addresses data quality issues at source to ensure that
our workforce data is of high quality, reliable, and valuable to NHS Highland, and its stakeholders. Work
continues on developing integrated (NHS and Council) data sets where possible.
NHS Workforce dashboards are available at Operational levels as well as Job Families and continue to
be developed. Council Health of the Organisation (HOO) reports are distributed to each service lead on
a quarterly basis and Absence summaries are distributed monthly.
20XX 3

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NHS HEADCOUNT AND WTE
NHS Key points:
Increase in total employed of
17 (1.03%) in the last 3
months
September 2025 in post figure
of 1,665 (headcount) of
substantive staff is an increase
of 36 (2.21%) in the last 12
months.
97.3% of contracts are
permanent.
4

Page 5

NHS WORKFORCE PROFILE
SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT 5
September 2025 Key points (NHS):
• 842 employees (50.6% of the workforce) are over
50, 313 (18.8%) over 60 years, 72 (4.3%) over 65
• 46 (2.8%) employees are under 25
• 1410 (84.7%) employees are female
• 855 (51.9%) employees are part time
• 48 (2.9%) contracts are fixed term
• Monthly Turnover is 0.49%, the same as the June
figure and a fraction (0.02%) higher than the
current Board figure
• Annual Turnover is 8.58% for the 12 months to
September
• Leavers number for September 2025 is 8, the
main reason for leaving is ‘Retirement’ (36.4%).

Page 6

COUNCIL WORKFORCE PROFILE
SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT 6
Key points:
• 23% (178) of the workforce are aged
between 45-54; 38% (295) are aged
between 55 and 65, with 3% (23) aged
over 66
• 83% (658) of the workforce is female
• 47% (371) of the workforce are part
time
• 5% (40) of the workforce are
temporary
• 59% of employees have been in post
for 24 months or more
• Modern apprenticeship retention
remains higher than the council wide
figure at 82% vs 70%
It should be noted that some of the staff are dual employees (holds
more than one role) which accounts for any discrepancy in figures
from other sources.

Page 7

TIME TO FILL
Time to fill presents a count of days between post
added to the recruitment system and the start date of
the candidate. The fill period is therefore reliant on
timely and accurate data input.
The council posts take an average of 83 days to fill while
the NHS Argyll & Bute average is 119.6 days in
September compared to 116.8 for June.
Time to fill has been reducing  for board posts.  The NHS
Scotland wide Time to Fill KPI is 116 days.
Council time to fill has increased slightly during FQ2,
from 73 days in the last Quarter to 83 days this quarter. 
There has been a further increase in the numbers of
vacancies advertised from 96 during FQ1 to 127 during
FQ2. Some of these will be re-advertisements.  At the
end of September 2025, there were 22 positions that
remained unfilled.
Both recruitment systems have the capability of
reporting at each stage of the recruitment process and
Recruitment Metrics is being finalised for future
reporting. This will assist in identifying the source of
delays.
7
Council
NHS
Status Posts at 30/09/2025
Conditional 67
Generic/Cohort 1
Interview 16
Live Advert 21
Redeployment 17
Shortlisting 15
Shortlisting Complete 48
Unconditional 185
Total 67
Average time to Fill (days) 119.6

Page 8

HSCP CURRENT VACANCIES
8
NHS Vacancies
(Jobtrain)
30/09/2025
This slide provides
a breakdown of
the vacant posts.
Information
relating to re-
advertising and
posts vacant for a
long period of
time is being
further developed
and will be
provided when
available.
Division Number of Vacancies
A&B Children Families & Justice 10
Allied Health Professions 3
Medical and Dental 1
Nursing and Midwifery 4
Other Therapeutic 2
A&B MH LD & Addiction Services 26
Administrative Services 6
Allied Health Professions 3
Medical and Dental 2
Nursing and Midwifery 13
Other Therapeutic 1
Personal and Social Care 1
A&B Older Adults & Hospital Services 121
Administrative Services 10
Allied Health Professions 11
Dental Support 1
Medical and Dental 13
Nursing and Midwifery 67
Other Therapeutic 2
Support Services 17
A&B Primary Care 17
Administrative Services 4
Dental Support 2
Medical and Dental 6
Nursing and Midwifery 1
Other Therapeutic 4
Argyll & Bute Central 11
Administrative Services 2
Allied Health Professions 1
Nursing and Midwifery 3
Personal and Social Care 2
Support Services 3
Total 185
Council Vacancies
This table has a total of 98 posts during FQ2 –
which includes all internal/Ring Fenced but not
the re-advertised posts, hence the difference in
figures on previous slides

Page 9

NHS SICKNESS ABSENCE
9
The graph presents absence rates
across Argyll & Bute Divisions and the
HSCP.
The NHS Highland sickness absence
rate for September 2025 was 6.31%
The NHS Scotland KPI for sickness
absence rate is 4%
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25
Children Families & Justice 4.04 3.14 4.93 6.64 4.09 3.54 3.09 3.38 3.07 4.74 4.12 4.29 4.41
MH LD & Addiction Services 6.78 5.87 6.04 3.53 4.64 3.14 2.99 3.40 3.23 3.37 3.14 4.17 6.12
Older Adults & Hospital Services 6.28 6.14 6.94 6.37 7.18 6.40 6.44 5.97 5.81 5.79 6.70 6.28 6.30
Primary Care 4.25 5.95 6.63 5.94 5.67 4.83 3.84 3.04 3.18 4.42 4.25 3.68 5.45
A&B Central 4.80 5.77 4.17 3.56 3.82 3.44 3.65 3.05 5.68 4.41 5.34 5.80 6.89
Argyll & Bute HSCP 5.75 5.72 6.30 5.73 6.02 5.21 5.08 4.77 4.91 5.10 5.59 5.50 6.05
% Absence Rate
Children Families & Justice MH LD & Addiction Services Older Adults & Hospital Services
Primary Care A&B Central Argyll & Bute HSCP

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NHS SICKNESS ABSENCE REASONS
10
Top 20 Absence reasons presented for
the 12 months to September 2025.
Absences with an unknown cause/not
specified remain high (24.6%); managers
are asked to ensure that an appropriate
reason is recorded and continuously
updated. System solutions and prompts
are also being investigated.
For committee purposes absence reason
is reported at HSCP level. Heads of
Services receive their own divisional
information.
The top 3 reasons for absence are:
• Cold, cough, flu - influenza
• Gastro-intestinal problems
• Anxiety/stress/depression/other
psychiatric illnesses
Top 20 Absence Reasons % for 12 months to September 2025
24.6
18.3
15.1
7.2
5.6
5.2
4.0
3.0 3.0
2.1
1.8
1.5 1.4 1.3
1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8
0.5 0.4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30 % of Total Absences

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COUNCIL SICKNESS ABSENCE
11
There has been a gradual
increase in absences for both
Adult Services during FQ2,
but a reduction in C, F & J.
The days lost per FTE per
month has hovered around 2
overall for the HSCP during
FQ2, which is similar to
previous reporting periods.

Page 12

COUNCIL SICKNESS REASONS & RTWD
12
Council Sickness Reasons &
RTWD
Absence Reasons
‘Mental Health’ reasons have
remained as the top reason in the
long-term absence for FQ 2.  Short
term absences have been dominated
by Infections during FQ2.   Managers
continue to have access to the
Council’s Wellbeing team for
assistance in following the Supporting
Attendances procedures.
Return to Work Discussion (RTWD)
The RTW Discussions remain an
extremely important  part of the
absence management process, and
there is a commitment for them to
take place within 3 days of an
employee’s return to work after a
period of absence. 48% were not
completed within this timeframe
during FQ2.

Page 13

AUGUST 24 - AUGUST 25
From 1st April 2024 cases include
early resolution where known.
In August 2025, 2 new Bullying and Harassment cases were raised in Argyll & Bute with 9 remaining active, no new conduct cases were opened
with 4 cases remaining active and 1 new grievance case was opened in A&B with 5 cases active
0
2
4
6
Aug-24 Aug-25
Bullying and Harassment
(new cases open per month)
0
5
10
15
20
Aug-24 Aug-25
Bullying and Harassment
(active cases at end of month)
0
2
4
6
Aug-24 Aug-25
Conduct
(new cases open per month)
0
2
4
6
8
Aug-24 Aug-25
Conduct
(active cases at end of month)
0
2
4
6
Aug-24 Aug-25
Grievance
(new cases open per month)
0
5
10
15
Aug-24 Aug-25
Grievance
(active cases at end of month)

Page 14

COUNCIL EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS
14
Council HSCP Disciplinary and
Grievance cases continue to
remain low overall. 
During FQ2, 2 Disciplinary Cases
and 3 Grievance Cases were
concluded.
There were a further 2 new
Disciplinary cases and 4 new
Grievances initiated during FQ2.
Redeployments - there was one
medical redeployment during FQ2.

Page 15

REDEPLOYMENT
15
All NHS Highland Band/Grade Reason
TotalJob Family Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4 Band 5 Band 6 Band 7 Other
Org
Change
Capability/
Attendance
End of
FTC
Pay
Protection Other
Admin Services 1 0 5 1 4 3 0 1 2 0 8 5 1 16
Allied Health Services 0 0 1 2 2 3 1 0 0 1 6 2 0 9
Dental Support 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Healthcare Sciences 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3
Medical and Dental 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Nursing and Midwifery 0 2 13 0 19 7 3 2 10 5 20 9 1 45
Other therapeutic 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 4
Personal and Social Care 0 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 5
Support Services 3 9 0 3 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 8 0 16
Total 4 13 24 7 29 14 5 4 24 8 38 27 3 100
The data above reflects the redeployment register as of 30/09/2025
Between dates 01/07/25 and 30/09/25 there have been a total of 100 employees on the
redeployment register. In this time 28 employees have been successfully redeployed, 2
retired and 2 were terminated. As at 30/09/2025 *67 employees remain on the register.
This down by 5 as of report 30/06/2025. *30 employees based in A&B
All NHS vacancies at any stage prior to appointment are considered for redeployment
as they arise.
People and Culture continue to work in partnership with managers, employees and staff
side colleagues to secure permanent or fixed term opportunities for staff on the
redeployment register.
Review of pay protection is ongoing.

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MANDATORY
TRAINING  - NHS
In September 2025, the Mandatory Training
completion rate is 72% overall for eLearning
modules, an increase of 0.5% since June.
Over the course of the year there has been
focused attention on statutory mandatory
training resulting in  incremental improvement
across all statutory mandatory training course.
The launch of a new Violence & Aggression
course in July 2024 for all job families caused a
dip in the figures but completion numbers are
now improving.
There remains lower levels of compliance in
Public Protection and Staying Safe Online
eLearning, but it is improving.
16
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25
Trajectory (% Completed)
Equality and Diversity Fire Safety Hand Hygiene
Information Governance Moving and Handling Module A Public Protection
Staying Safe Online Violence and Aggression Why Infection Prevention Matters
Target

Page 17

MANDATORY
TRAINING (COUNCIL)
The Council's LEON system Leon: Argyll and Bute
Council is now able to produce reliable statistics.
The table below gives a break down of  the
mandatory training required and the frequency.
The tables opposite show the various mandatory
courses completed during FQ2 25/26. 
Managers are now able to see via LEON, who
has/has not completed their required mandatory
training.
17

Page 18

APPRAISALS
NHS - the table shows the appraisal completion
percentage, recorded on the Turas Appraisal
system for NHS employees as of 30/09/2025.
The chart represents the overall appraisal
completion percentage over the last 13 months
recorded on the Turas Appraisal system for NHS
employees.
Improvement of appraisal rates and quality is a
Board priority, and this will be an area of focus for
the year ahead. Training for reviewees is available
on the Turas Learn system
18
0
50
Sep-24 Sep-25
Chld, Fam & Just MH LD & Add Older Adults & Hosp
Primary Care A&B Central A&B HSCP

Page 19

QUALITY
CONVERSATIONS
Council  Appraisals - The Council has moved away from PDP/appraisals to a less formalised quality conversation approach.
The aim of Quality Conversations is to ensure employees and managers have regular time together to discuss goals, performance, objectives and learning and development needs. 
It was agreed that an Annual survey would be conducted to measure the success and impact of the quality conversation. 
The most recent survey was carried out in May 2025.  The results for the HSCP are shown in the tables opposite.  Although this is not a high response rate, it has improved on last year’s figures, which had an overall response rate of 8% for the employee survey and 6% for the line manager responses. 
The link below gives further details on MCW:
Quality conversations – My Council Works 19