Managing long-term absence - Long-term absences, of 20 days or more, consume the lion's share of all work-related sickness absence. With this in mind, this feature focuses on best-practice policies and procedures to tackle long-term absence, at the Post Office, the London Borough of Lewisham, Procter & Gamble, National Starch & Chemical and New Holland UK Ltd. Our structured interviews with key personnel in each organisation reveal important insights into absence management practice (see our summary table, pp.4-5). We identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, in a basic SWOT analysis of their current procedures. All the organisations are involved in varying processes of continuous improvement. The scene is set in a review (p.3) of this summer's round of initiatives from the HSC, driving towards challenging targets to reduce work-related ill health, costing around GBP210 billion a year. The HSC's chair, Bill Callaghan, told EHB that a key element of the new OH strategy "is about achieving a step change in managing attendance." His organisation will lead a Partnership Board to take the strategy forward. In a linked initiative, the Treasury recently focused on the relatively high cost of ill-health retirement in the public sector.