FOI request (FOIR-200551678)

My understanding  is that within the  Joint Waste contract, you have decided  that  brown bin collections should continue during the corona virus crisis  but that you  have had  to negotiate an extra  payment to the   provider  so that they may employ additional agency  staff.

First is this correct, and second, what payment have you  agreed with the supplier?

During periods of unplanned staff absence, such as those created by the current coronavirus pandemic, essential waste collection services are maintained by suspending non-essential services so the available staff each day can be deployed to the most important services. The Cabinet Office issued guidance for local authorities in March (titled PPN 02/20 Supplier Relief) which seeks to ensure service continuity during and after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Joint Waste Contract is being managed in line with that guidance and the arrangement to financially support the need for agency staff to be employed was agreed so that garden waste services (a non-essential service) could re-start despite staff absence remaining at the level where services would normally remain suspended.

Any payment due will not be quantified until all payments are reconciled against services completed during the pandemic. The provisions of PPN 02/20 effectively mean that the March, April and May period payments which have been made, are likely to result in a credit becoming due to the councils (subject to staff absence increasing once again due to any second pandemic wave).