Haringey Council has strongly defended its staff sickness record following criticism from the Liberal Democrats.

It followed a report which showed sickness absence levels in the housing and social services departments are above the national average.

In 1997 officers were absent for an average 12.4 days with manual workers taking an average 18.3 days sick leave.

This is compared with nationwide figures from the Confederation of British Industry of 7.9 and 9.7 respectively.

Lib Dem opposition leader Cllr Lynne Featherstone said: ``These figures show there is a chronic problem with days lost through sickness in Haringey.

``It's local people who have to pay the cost through their council tax bills. I will be asking council chiefs what they propose to do to tackle this problem.''

But Haringey Council hit back, claiming that to single out just one department gave a misleading impression.

A spokeswoman said: ``Almost all of our departments are below the national average.

``Social services departments usually have higher levels of sickness because they are front line, high stress jobs, sometimes with long shifts.

``The same thing applies to other occupations such as nursing or the police force which have average sickness absence levels of 14 days a year.

``There are also higher than average numbers of work-related injuries caused by duties such as lifting.''

The spokeswomen also said the authority had strict procedures for monitoring sickness absence.

Levels during 1997 had dropped compared with the previous year and a similar decrease was expected in 1998.

``We have staff who are so conscientious that they come into work even though they are sick and have to be sent home by their ma

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