I may have the wrong thread, so apologies if I have but our waste collections have been disrupted and the council blamed isolation of staff due to covid 19. Now it seems garden waste wont be collected at all for the foreseeable future. This is the explanation they have given to one of our town councillors. I just thought people might be interested;
It also seems the Council has changed its tune as it has now admitted that isolation is no longer the issue and has provided a statement which blames the continuing issues on Brexit saying "Brexit has reduced the availability of both skilled and unskilled workers and this is impacting FCC’s ability to secure qualified drivers in particular." It went on to say that "As a sector, waste services have been historically reliant on agency staff but even this route is problematic as agencies are also facing the same challenges." and also blamed "the substantial backlog of outstanding LGV tests due to COVID and recent changes to the HMRC rules concerning individual limited companies (IR35), all leading to a reduction in the number of qualified LGV drivers available."
Which is frustrating for the contractor (FCC) but residents who have paid their Council Tax and expect a service might argue the contractor should have done more to prepare for this.
The council says the contractor "are exploring ways to improve staff availability" which include "reviewing pay and conditions for drivers and developing new ways to attract people into the waste sector"