COMMITTEE ON FINANCE,
THE GENERAL ECONOMY
AND BUDGET OVERSIGHT
Paris, 9 September 2021
PRESS RELEASE
At 10:30 a.m. on 15 September, the Committee on Finance, the General Economy and
Budget Oversight, chaired by
Éric Woerth
, will hear
André Barbé, Chairman of the “Civil
Service” inter
-institutional body in charge of financial jurisdictions, present the report on the
survey, which the Court of Accounts was asked to conduct, in accordance with Article 58(2) of
the by-law relating to Finance Acts, pertaining to the
remuneration of civil servants on sick
leave
.
Sick leave taken by civil servants has been significantly on the rise for the last several
years
–
the average number of days per person increased by 21% in just five years, between
2014 and 2019. Although this increase can be seen in all three segments of the civil service
sector, it is more prevalent in the regional civil service and healthcare civil service segments.
The frequency of sick leave has adverse impacts on the operation, efficiency, image and costs
of the civil service.
Based on two types of sources, the Court calculated that total sick leave was equivalent
to one full year of work performed by 240,000 to 250,000 public servants, representing gross
compensation with social security charges of between €11bn and 12bn.
Since not all the data
are available, this calculation is merely an estimate: the Court based its calculations on the
conventional assumption that civil servants on sick leave would maintain their full salary,
which is not always the case in practice.
This estimate, probably higher than the actual amount, should be compared to the
public sector payroll -
i.e. €3
04 billion in 2020. However, the calculations included in the report
do not include the cost of replacing staff on sick leave, as the Court only had this data for
certain administrations (for example the national education administration, which has an
annu
al replacement budget of €2
billion).
As regards the one-day waiting period, while the Court observed that it helps reduce
short-term sick leave, it nevertheless recommends multiple further initiatives: preventive
measures to avoid the spread of diseases in the workplace; incorporation of short-term sick
leave in the modulation of the compensatory pay of civil servants; and lastly, enhancement of
controls on sick leave taken by civil servants.
The Court of Accounts also found the sick leave
management system to be complex and fragmented. One major obstacle in the administration
of sick leave is the virtual lack of dematerialisation of supporting documents and data flows.
Furthermore, while the diversity of rules is partly warranted due to the varying personal and
professional situations of civil service employees, the Court recommends establishing
harmonised and centralised metrics, which are currently lacking.
Lastly, the report includes assessments of unprecedented and practical measures
urgently implemented during the health crisis and reviews some of the initial lessons learned.
The video of the hearing featuring the presentation of the report to the Committee on
Finance is available on the website of the National Assembly.
Read the report on the website of the Court of Accounts.