IT looks like staff at Mid Devon District Council have been ill less often in the last year.

Estimates suggest the number of sick days per full-time employee (FTE) will be 7.7 days for this financial year.

That’s a drop from 10.4 days for the previous 12 months, which was the highest in four years.

The expected reduction in the time staff have off ill means the council’s bill for agency staff should be below the £680,000 spent last year, and a drop from the £1.1 million spent on temporary staff in 2022/23.

James Hamblin, an operations manager at the council, said while infections and flu remain high, measures such as sanitising stations for staff and employee health checks in January helped reduce sickness absence.