At next week’s Cabinet meeting councillors will hear an update on culture change and service improvement for Environmental Services and consider proposals for investment to further improve culture, performance and service delivery.
The update follows an independent investigation, led by Human Rights Lawyer Aileen McColgan KC, into serious allegations about the service’s workplace culture.
The inquiry, commissioned by the council after a whistleblowing complaint in 2023, revealed long-standing issues of bullying, discrimination and harassment that had not been addressed by previous administrations.
She recommended disciplinary action for those accused of wrongdoing, changes to the day-to-day running of the service and tackling behaviour and equality issues.
In the 18 months since her report was published, significant progress has been made to improve staff wellbeing and the quality of service received by residents.
Council leader Bella Sankey said: “When the depth of bullying, intimidation, racism, misogyny and homophobia at the depot was exposed by the KC report, I promised colleagues and residents we would take a zero tolerance approach to this behaviour and begin the tough job of transforming our service into a high quality and reliable one.
“Our staff deserve a safe working environment free from intimidation and our residents deserve an excellent service and we will do everything necessary to deliver both.”
“Because of the culture and systemic under-investment, long standing service development issues have not been prioritised. I’m really pleased to see we’re now in a place where they can be addressed.
“Ensuring we have a waste and recycling service that keeps our city clean, tidy and accessible is an absolute priority."
A comprehensive culture change programme is underway, aligned with the council’s Fair and Inclusive Action Plan, to create a psychologically safe workplace and support a more reliable, resident-focused service.
It puts in place recommendations about the working culture, unacceptable behaviours, and sets out plans to stabilise the service, create the right conditions and achieve and embed culture change.
It directly addresses recommendations from the report including:
Action is also being taken to improve the performance of collections, increase recycling and improve the look and feel of the city.
This includes increasing capacity, modernising the fleet and investing in new technology to ensure a more reliable, efficient and resident focused service.
While service improvements were achieved following the publication of the report, this year a setback in performance has occurred due to staffing issues, spending controls and ageing equipment and systems.
However, it is also recognised that some of this disruption may stem from intentional counter-cultural behaviours by a very small number of individuals, with any such incidents being robustly investigated and disciplinary action, including dismissal, being taken where necessary.