East Sussex County Council has implemented a new absence management service for 3,000 employees.

The service, provided by FirstCare, will encompass day-one nurse-led absence reporting, policy compliance tracking and a managers' portal to access absence data in real time.

In the longer term, the organisation plans to introduce a return-to-work notification and interview initiative.

Leatham Green, assistant director, personnel and training for the council, said: "The service will complement the strong internal expertise we have established within the council over recent years. However, in order to improve our performance further in proactively managing attendance, additional capacity is needed and we view First Care as the best way to achieve this."