Professor John Robertson OBA (74)
‘Our’ media this morning are full of negative reporting based on increasing absence rates among council workers including teachers, who are older on average than the general population. They are much-helped by Audit Scotland‘s framing of their report as Strain clear across Scotland’s local government workforce and its saturation-level ageism which can find no advantages in having a workforce in these complex areas – schools, housing, care, engineering and so on.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://audit.scot/uploads/2025-07/bv_250807_workforce_thematic.pdf
Once more it’s propaganda from Audit Scotland of a kind the national auditors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland see no need for.
In 21 references to skill, there is not one which recognises that an, on average, older workforce, will have been able to develop the often complex skills, insight and empathy required in these areas of work. That reveals an underlying ageism that saturates the report.
There is, of course, no data presented to show that absence is more common in the older workers.
Here’s why:
In summary, older workers may have slightly higher absence rates due to health issues, but they often show greater reliability for non-health-related reasons. (A quick AI search)
A 2017 Scottish Government report found employers value older workers (aged 50+) for their skills, experience, and “corporate memory,” often seeing them as committed and bringing stability to the workplace. Mentoring schemes in sectors like health and hospitality also show older workers passing on valuable expertise, suggesting dependability.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/older-people-employment-scotland/pages/6/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/older-people-employment-scotland/pages/6/
Yet one of the Audit Scotland report’s sections is headed – Councils are dealing with an ageing workforce.
Councils are benefiting from an experienced workforce?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Have to admit, though, they make a good case for an earlier retiring age although I don’t think that was really what they were aiming at.😊
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I wonder what the demographic balance is within Audit Scotland and the stats for absences in that organisation ?
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On looking at their website, it looks like Audit Scotland benefit from a very experienced team
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I mean no offence by this John, but are you in the same danger as AS of ignoring the elephant in the room over our more senior workforce having survived the hell of ‘austerity’ for over 25 years, the dehumanisation of their skills as if a factory process, all the way down to the very real established complications of Covid still knackering people 5 years after the real criminals walked away ‘scot free’, some with impounded yachts.
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Sorry Bob, not getting that. Try me again?
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OK, will try to be clearer – The examination is purely based on age bands as a snapshot in time on two distinct bands as if comparative, but disregards what may have changed to affect physical or mental health over every decade for each of the two bands – eg I left local government in the 45-64 year old bracket facing ruin – Were I to return to local government or the SSSQ now in my 70s however bizarre, with no worries over debt or housing, would I be as stressed as my colleagues who had suffered all the slings and arrows of austerity and the madness of the UK ? I suggest not.
Viz – It’s a false comparative.
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Thanks Bob. I get it now. John
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