NORTH East councils spent more than £12m on sick pay for staff who took nearly 600,000 days off last year.

Four councils spent £12,017,698 on sick pay and paying agency staff to cover absences last year.

But the total bill was higher because three other councils were unable to state the cost of sick pay.

Across the seven North East councils, staff took 597,647 days, an average of nearly nine days off – more than two days higher than the national average for sick days.

The figures were released to The Journal under Freedom of Information laws.

But staff in some council departments took far more days off.

At Sunderland Council, staff in the health, housing and adult services division took an average of 15 days off sick each in the 2010-11 financial year.

The council spent £5,200,630 on sick pay for its employees, who took an average of 10 days’ sick leave each.

Staff in Gateshead Council’s community-based services department also took an average of three weeks off sick.

The council racked up a £220,892 bill to employ agency staff to cover some of its employees while they were off sick.

Workers there also took an average of 10 days off sick.