Employees working in a single council department took nearly 10,000 sick days last year.

New figures have shown Merton Council’s environment and regeneration department was double the average for sick days taken by council employees in 2011 – 15.83 compared to 7.73 overall.

The department has 600 members of staff, which means about 9,500 sick days taken.

Teachers were among the lowest council employees to take sick days, at an average of 5.32.

The figures, released last week, showed sickness were slightly down across all council departments compared to the previous two years.

The council’s Director of Environment and Regeneration, Chris Lee said: "We are actively trying to reduce sickness levels across the Environment and Regeneration department.

“This part of the council has over 600 members of staff and it is important to remember that almost half of these work outside throughout the year in all conditions doing jobs such as street sweepers, refuse collectors and civil enforcement officers. 

“Whilst we recognise that working in such conditions can increase the vulnerability to periods of sickness absence we are committed to tackling this issue."

Last year, accountants PriceWaterHouse Coopers estimated the average public sector worker takes 12 days off sick every year, which costs the taxpayer about £9bn.

On average, British workers take 10 sick days a year, while Americans take six and the Japanese five.

In August, a former road sweeper won a case of unfair dismissal against Merton Council after repeatedly complaining about sub-standard working conditions.