Millions of pounds have been saved from council spending through cutting staff sickness.

East Sussex County Council said in the past four years it had managed to reduce absence levels from an average of ten days a year per employee to less than seven each - saving £1.5 million.

It says a further £1 million has been saved by centralising its human resources (HR) department and changing the way it advertises jobs.

In February The Argus reported that councils in Sussex spend over £20 million a year on paying staff who are off sick.

That amount would swell further if the amount spent by West Sussex County Council, which records data in a different way and refused to reveal the cost, was added.

Leatham Green, East Sussex's assistant director of HR, said that other local authorities are learning from its success.

He said: “Everything that we are doing is possible in other organisations. It's not rocket science, just hard work."

He said absence levels were improved through better training for managers and the setting up of a new occupational health team.

The team offers various “well-being” programmes, including physiotherapy and initiatives to help people give up smoking.