TWELVE councils saw a rise in staff absenteeism last year, with Ballymoney borough council the worst offender.
A report from the local government auditor found the average sickness absence rate across all councils was just over 11 days, a slight improvement on the previous year.
But in Ballymoney council it rose to 16 days and in Larne to nearly 15 days.
Fermanagh district council had the lowest rate of six days.
Carrickfergus borough council saw the best improvement with absenteeism falling from 17 days to 13 days.
The report was compiled ahead of the reduction in the number of councils from 26 to 11 in a shake-up of local government.
