FIGURES released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal in the past financial year Greenwich Council staff took more than 89,000 sick days.

From April 2005 to last April, Greenwich Council lost 89,771 days due to sickness absence - which equates to an average of 10.5 days per employee.

However, these figures are an improvement on the previous year as the number of sick days taken by staff in the 2004/2005 financial year was 92,669 - an average of 11 days per person.

The longest period of sickness taken by a single employee since 2004 was 812 working days.

A spokesman said: "Greenwich Council has made good progress in reducing levels of sickness absence, with an 11 per cent reduction in the past year.

"The council is well on course to meet its next target of nine days of annual sick leave per employee by March.

"Action will continue to be taken to achieve further improvements."

From April 2005 to April last year, neighbouring Lewisham Council lost 76,861 days to sickness absence - an average of 9.9 days per employee.

These figures were also an improvement on the previous financial year during which 80,469 days were lost - an average of 10.8 days per person.

A council spokesman said: "The council takes this issue very seriously and has introduced a sickness management system to tackle it.

"Since its introduction, sick days have fallen significantly and we expect to continue building on this progress year-on-year."

So far this financial year, the council is losing an average of 9.5 days per person but this could change when figures are audited after April.

In the past three years, the longest period of paid sickness was 261 working days, which is equivalent to one working year.

A spokesman for public servants' union Unison is warning against people criticising the level of sickness at the two councils.

He said: "There is no question these figures are for genuine illness.

"But you need to look past the figures and address the issues which are causing them.

"The biggest cause of sickness is stress, which we believe is due to three main factors; bullying, job cuts and health and safety."

He added: "Some buildings are appalling for people to work in and job cuts create stress for those who have to cover for people.

"Action needs to be taken to deal with these issues."