Oxford City Council is to spend £80,000 in a renewed drive to reduce staff sickness absences.

It is inviting tenders to run a call centre-style sickness reporting contract and occupational health service.

Figures for 2005-6 ranked the authority one of the worst councils in the country for sickness absence, with staff taking an average 12.27 days off each year.

Things have improved - the average number of days off between April and December was 8.1 - and managers want to bring the figure down further.

Firms would bid for a one-year contract, worth £30,000, under which staff wanting a day off would first call a nurse. A pilot scheme has been running for the past year in three council departments, with mixed results.

Occupational nurses are to be employed under a contract worth £50,000 a year.

According to council statistics, in the nine months since the pilot was introduced, staff worked 731 more days.

Human resources manager Sue Shutter said: "We contract an occupational health physician and an occupational health nursing adviser. Their role is assessment and referral.

"They have a dedicated consulting room and office at Cowley Marsh (council depot), which is more accessible to our staff than city centre locations.

"If required, they're able to visit staff in any of our workplaces and at home."

The council says that unlike many local authorities, it employs a large operational workforce and has to expect higher sickness absence in areas where manual labour was undertaken.

Also of concern to managers are the number of stress-related illnesses recorded.

Ms Shutter said the council had offered changes to working hours, counselling and referrals to occupational health workers.