WORKERS in the Tendring district take twice as many sick days as the rest of the country, putting the district in the bottom ten nationally.

Figures published by Public Health England showed employees in the district took an average of nine days off sick each year. The national average is four days.

The 2010-12 figures showed Tendring was the ninth worst district in the country, with 3.7 per cent of working days taken off ill, against 1.6 per cent nationally.

It led to neighbouring Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell branding the district’s biggest town “sicknote Clacton”.

The report led to speculation workers in seaside towns were more likely to pull “sickies”

during hot weather to take advantage of beaches.

Clacton businessman Iain Wicks, chairman of Essex Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Staff sickness can be a problem, as there is an additional cost to covering those staff members.

But he added: “I wouldn’t want to speculate as to why there is such a problem in Clacton.”