Workforce Report AB IJB May 2025
Argyll and Bute Council · 28 May 2025
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 28 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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WORKFORCE REPORT Argyll & Bute IJB May 2025
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CONTENT •Introduction •Headcount and WTE •Workforce Profile •Vacancies •Sickness Absence •Employee Relations •Redeployment •Mandatory Training •Appraisals 20XX 2
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INTRODUCTION The Workforce Report considers the workforce position as of 31st March 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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HEADCOUNT AND WTE NHS Key points: 0.55% increase of workforce in the last 12months March 2025 in post figure of 1,646 (headcount) of Substantive Staff is an increase of 7 (0.43%) in the last 3 months 96.6% of contracts are permanent and this has been a consistent position since December 2022 4 Council HeadcountNHS Council Key points: Increase in total employed by 5 in last 3 months Increase in casual staff by 53 95% of contracts are permanent
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NHS WORKFORCE PROFILE SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT 5 Key points (NHS): • 842 employees (51.2% of the workforce) are over 50, 310 (18.9%) over 60 years, 70 (4.3%) over 65 • 39 (2.4%) employees are under 25 • 1397 (84.9%) employees are female • 852 (51.7%) employees are part time • 55 (3.4%) contracts are fixed term • Monthly Turnover (1.4%) is 0.9% higher than December’s figure and is higher than the Board figure of 0.82%. • Retirement continues to be the main reason (53.8%) for leaving.
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COUNCIL WORKFORCE PROFILE SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT 6 Key points: • 50% of the workforce remain over 50 years old with 4% over 65 years • 83% of the workforce is female. • 44% of the workforce are part time • 5% of the workforce are temporary (37) • Voluntary Turnover rate has reduced again from 4% to 3% • No temporary employees leaving prior to end of contract • Modern apprenticeship retention remains higher than the council wide figure at 82% vs 70%
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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. Within the HSCP, Council posts take an average of 79 days to fill while the NHS average is 116.1 days in March compared to 113.6 for December. Time to fill has been reducing for board posts. Scotland wide benchmarking is also being sought and will be used for comparison when available. Council time to fill has increased slightly during Q4, from 69 days in the last Quarter to 79 days this quarter. There has been a slight increase in the numbers of vacancies advertised from 61 in Q3 to 65 during Q4. At the end of March 2025, there were only 7 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 31/03/2025 Conditional 47 Generic/Cohort 2 Interview 26 Live Advert 37 Redeployment 2 Shortlisting 9 Shortlisting Complete 6 Unconditional 31 Total 160 Average time to Fill (days) 116.1
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HSCP CURRENT VACANCIES 8 NHS Vacancies (Jobtrain) 31/03/2025 Council Vacancies This slide provides a detailed 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 9 Administrative Services 1 Allied Health Professions 2 Nursing and Midwifery 6 A&B MH LD & Addiction Services 17 Administrative Services 2 Allied Health Professions 3 Nursing and Midwifery 12 A&B Older Adults & Hospital Services 109 Administrative Services 12 Allied Health Professions 24 Healthcare Sciences 2 Medical and Dental 5 Nursing and Midwifery 51 Other Therapeutic 1 Personal and Social Care 1 Support Services 13 A&B Primary Care 15 Administrative Services 7 Dental Support 1 Medical and Dental 3 Nursing and Midwifery 2 Other Therapeutic 2 Argyll & Bute Central 10 Administrative Services 3 Allied Health Professions 1 Nursing and Midwifery 0 Personal and Social Care 2 Support Services 4 Total 160 This table has a total of 75 posts during Q4 – which includes all internal/Ring Fenced as well as Casual posts, hence the difference of 10 from the previous slide.
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NHS SICKNESS ABSENCE 9 The graph presents absence rates across Argyll & Bute Divisions. The table presents the average absence rates of the HSCP in comparison with NHS Highland as a whole and the NHS Scotland national average per month. A&B HSCP has, in the main, a consistently lower absence rate than the board wide and National averages. * We await NHS Scotland average rates for March 2025. 4.00 4.50 5.00 5.50 6.00 6.50 7.00 7.50 Mar-24 Apr-24 May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24 Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 A&B HSCP 5.27 5.21 5.29 6.01 5.14 4.99 5.75 5.72 6.30 5.73 6.02 5.21 5.08 NHS Highland 6.16 5.94 5.92 6.00 5.99 5.58 5.79 6.07 5.97 6.41 6.94 5.72 5.77 NHS Scotland Average 6.07 6.19 6.39 6.22 6.67 6.04 6.01 6.53 6.16 7.07 7.01 5.87 % Absence Rate A&B HSCP NHS Highland NHS Scotland Average
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NHS SICKNESS ABSENCE REASONS 10 Top 20 Absence reasons presented for the 12 months to March 2025. Absences with an unknown cause/not specified remaining high (24.5%). Managers continue to be 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 • gastro-intestinal • Anxiety/ stress /depression /other Top 20 Absence Reasons % for 12 months to March 2025 24.50% 19.36% 13.27% 6.64% 6.05% 4.33% 4.03% 3.85% 3.37% 2.57% 2.27% 1.69% 1.58% 1.25% 1.14% 0.81% 0.70% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% % of Total Absences
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COUNCIL SICKNESS ABSENCE SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT 11 The costs for sickness absences for FQ4 are shown below. Overall, the HSCP has spent above the Council average during this quarter with 7.8% compared to 5.2% (and last quarter it was 6.4% compared to 4.4%) The days lost per FTE per month has shown a slight increase, 1.74 in December 2024 to 2.35 in March 2025.
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COUNCIL SICKNESS REASONS & RTWD 12 Absence Reasons ‘Mental Health’ reasons have remained as the top reason in the short-term and long-term absence categories for FQ4. Managers 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.
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From 1st April 2024 cases include early resolution where known. In February 2025, 1 new Bullying and Harassment was raised in Aryll & Bute and 12 remained active. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Feb-24 Mar- 24 Apr-24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug- 24 Sep-24Oct-24 Nov- 24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 A&B 17 17 17 17 15 13 13 13 15 15 12 11 12 Bullying and Harassment February 24 - February 25 (active cases at end of month) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 Feb- 24 Mar- 24 Apr- 24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug- 24 Sep- 24 Oct-24 Nov- 24 Dec- 24 Jan-25 Feb- 25 A&B 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 Bullying and Harassment February 24 - February 25 (new cases open per month)
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From 1st April 2024 cases include early resolution where known. In February 2025, 0 new conduct cases were opened and 4 cases remained active in Argyll & Bute 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Feb-24 Mar- 24 Apr-24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24Oct-24Nov-24Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 A&B 1 1 2 2 2 2 6 5 3 3 4 4 4 Conduct February 24 - February 25 (active cases at end of month) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 Feb-24 Mar- 24 Apr-24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24Oct-24Nov-24Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 A&B 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 Conduct February 24 - February 25 (new cases open per month)
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From 1st April 2024 cases include early resolution where known. In February 2025, 1 new grievance case was opened in A&B with 11 cases active in the same month 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Feb- 24 Mar- 24 Apr- 24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug- 24 Sep- 24 Oct- 24 Nov- 24 Dec- 24 Jan-25 Feb- 25 A&B 7 7 6 8 8 7 6 6 5 9 11 11 11 Grievance February 24 - February 25 (active cases at end of month) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 Feb-24 Mar-24Apr-24 May- 24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 A&B 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 1 Grievance February 24 - February 25 (new cases open per month)
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EMPLOYEE RELATIONS 16 HSCP Council Grievance cases continue to remain relatively low; with one concluded during Q4. With regards to Council Disciplinaries, the statistics for Q4 are unavailable due to a systems issue.
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REDEPLOYMENT 17 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 3 2 3 3 0 0 3 0 3 6 0 12 Allied Health Services 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 4 Dental Support 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 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 0 12 0 3 2 3 0 1 1 7 10 0 20 Other therapeutic 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 Personal and Social Care 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 Support Services 3 10 0 4 0 1 0 0 8 1 0 9 0 18 Total 4 12 19 8 9 7 3 1 15 4 12 31 1 63 As of the 31st March 2025 there were 31 employees within Argyll & Bute on the redeployment register. All NHS vacancies at any stage prior to appointment are considered for redeployment as they arise.
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MANDATORY TRAINING - NHS In March 2025, the Mandatory Training completion rate is 70.5% overall for eLearning modules, an increase since December 2024 when 68.2% was reported. 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 low levels of compliance in Staying Safe Online eLearning, but it is improving. 18 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Mar-24 Apr-24 May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24 Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-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
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Unfortunately, due to continued issues with the Council IT systems, there are only training statistics available for Q3. The tables show both mandatory and non mandatory training courses completed during the previous quarter. LEON continues to notify employees when their training is due and sends reminders to the employee and line manager. The reporting for this is still being refined, but it is expected to improve the overall compliance rates in the next few quarters. 19 MANDATORY TRAINING (COUNCIL)
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APPRAISALS NHS - the table shows the appraisal completion percentage, recorded on the Turas Appraisal system for NHS employees as of 31/03/2025. 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 Council - The Council moved away from PDP/appraisals to a less formalised quality conversation approach. It was agreed that an Annual survey would be conducted to measure the success and impact of the quality conversation. The next survey is currently being run, with a closing date of 13 May 2025. Quality conversations – My Council Works Results will be shared in due course. 20 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Mar-24 Mar-25