Elmbridge Council is cracking down on its staff taking days off sick by advertising for a “wellbeing” officer.

Employees at the local authority currently take 6.6 days off ill on average every year, but the council hopes to curb this by adding the role of “wellbeing” on to the already existing health and safety officer position.

But leader of the council John O’Reilly hit out at claims in the Sunday Times the council had created a “daft-job” at a time public sector positions are being threatened.

He said: “In common with most local authorities, the health, safety and wellbeing adviser is a long established role, dating back over 30 years.

“Do people want their fairgrounds checked? Of course they do. Most reasonable people would say this is not a ‘non-job’.”

He also called the Sunday Times “deplorable”, after a reporter from the paper posed as an applicant to ask what the “wellbeing” aspect of the role would entail.

A member of the council’s human resources department replied: “We are not really sure yet, as we have just added that to the role. We’ll want someone to make sure staff take breaks, go for walks.”

Coun O’Reilly said: “Despite being asked to contact the manager responsible and being advised that the person he was speaking to did not know the details of the job, the reporter persisted and, in an effort to be as helpful as possible, the member of staff speculated as to what the job involved.”

Although the new role has the added responsibility to ensure council employee’s wellbeing, the officer will be paid less than their predecessor.

Coun O’Reilly said: “I hope residents will applaud us for trying to get the best person for the job, while ensuring value for money.