The Joint Staff Advisory Committee met to discuss accident and sickness reports, and to consider matters raised by employees. The committee received verbal updates from officers, and noted the accident and sickness reports for the first quarter of 2025-26. The public and press were excluded from some of the meeting to discuss confidential information.

Accident Report (1st Quarter 2025-26)

The committee received a report from the Assistant Director - People and Governance regarding accident statistics across Lewes District Council (LDC) and Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) for the first quarter of 2025-26. The report was noted by the committee.

Sickness Absence (Quarter 1 2025/2026)

The committee received a report from the HR Manager, Josie Grayson, providing an update on sickness absence figures for Quarter 1 of 2025/2026. The report detailed how the figures were presented for both Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council. The committee noted the sickness absence figures and the presentation method.

Verbal update from the Assistant Director - People and Governance

The committee received a verbal update from Simon Russell, Assistant Director of People and Governance (ADPG), on matters impacting staff across both Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council. The committee resolved to note the update.

At the previous meeting on 26 June 2025, Simon Russell, Assistant Director of People and Governance (ADPG) had informed the Committee that:

good progress was being made in relation to the Local Government Reorganisation proposal which was being developed jointly by Councils across East Sussex. A public survey on the proposals had concluded on 23 June 2025 and following submission on the 26 September 2025, the Government would consider the proposal with a likely outcome of its deliberations to be published by autumn/winter 2025.

He also noted that the Regulator of Social Housing had recently begun a scheduled inspection of LDC and EBC housing service in line with the Consumer Standards, with the outcome of the inspection to be published in September 2025, and that preparation work was ongoing for the upcoming All-Staff Conference, which was scheduled to take place 7 - 8 October 2025 at the Welcome Building in Eastbourne.

Exclusion of the public and press

The public and press were excluded from the meeting during the discussion of the accident report, sickness absence, and consideration of matters raised by the employees' side in respect of the items on the agenda, and health and safety matters raised by the employees' side. This was done because there was likely to be disclosures of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972¹.

Matters raised by the employees' side

The committee considered matters raised by the employees' side and health and safety matters raised by the employees' side.