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A council paid out a staggering £424,000 as part of a deal to make Christmas bin pick-ups compulsory for workers.

A total of 106 staff at Coventry City Council got £4,000 each in return for having to collect rubbish in the week between Christmas and New Year. The deal was struck to end seven-month-long bin strikes, which had angered city residents last year.

Money for the buyout came from council reserves, Coventry Live reports.

Set against ongoing savings of some £150,000, the council spent £274,000 more on bin collections over Christmas this year.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, slides for a council meeting say it “made collections on the week between Christmas and New Year compulsory in return for a one-off payment.”

“106 staff signed up for the change meaning that collections were carried out with no changes and no delays for residents.”

Collections over Christmas and New Year had become “challenging” when bins started to be picked up every other week, the presentation adds.

It led to the council depending on agency staff and volunteers for cover – and people living in the city were sent clear sacks to store extra recycling.

This year, no clear sacks were needed, and the council also made savings from not needing temporary staff.

Alongside the change, there was a sharp drop in complaints about bin collections in this period, according to the slides.

Complaints about pick-ups in December 22 and January 23 totalled 47, down more than 75% from the year before.

Asked for comment, a Coventry City Council spokesperson said: “In order to deliver a 52-week waste service, it was necessary to reach an agreement to buy-out a local agreement to achieve this.

“This was a one-off cost and not a recurring one meaning it will not be repeated for the service this Christmas.”

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