For the past three years, binmen in Birmingham have been allowed to quit work early and collect full pay with the knowledge of their supervisors.

The arrangement, known as ‘task and finish,’ was first implemented as an emergency measure during the Covid-19 epidemic to protect workers from the virus by allowing them to go home after finishing their rounds.

Despite the council’s understanding, many sources say that this practice has continued long after the outbreak.

An order was delivered to depots last week instructing them to stop the practice immediately.

A union source told Birmingham Live, the bin workers were not at fault, and said: “Bin men have not been sneaking off home early or doing anything wrong – this is a council-approved working practice.”

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This arrangement, however, is now related to large equal pay claims totalling an estimated £760million.

As a consequence, the council is facing a severe financial crisis, putting all services at risk of potential budget cuts.

Another source within the organisation expressed concern over the persistence of a measure initially implemented to safeguard lives during the pandemic, stating that it has now become a significant problem.

The source told Birmingham Live: “They were fearful of rocking the boat by ending a practice that binmen love, especially in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games (held in Birmingham last summer). But it’s potentially going to cost the council and residents a lot.”

The council has a dire financial crisis to solve as a result, with every service now at risk of cuts. Another insider said it was ‘a giant problem’ that a measure brought in to help save lives during the pandemic was still going on.

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According to Birmingham Live, waste service workers, union officials and city council, insiders have all confirmed the practice was continued beyond the pandemic as it was seen as a way to incentivise the mostly male workforce in the bins service. We understand the park’s maintenance service has also been working with a similar regime.

Not all workers and not all managers have approved of or carried out the early finish practice, according to one binman. But workers are often completing their assigned tasks inside the 7-hour and 15-minute shift they are paid for. Birmingham Conservatives group leader Cllr Robert Alden said it was an appalling state of affairs.

He said: “During Covid, when this task and finish arrangement was agreed by Gold Command, we asked if it might have equal pay implications but were told it did not because of the emergency. However, Covid emergency powers ended over a year ago – to have failed to end this then is unbelievable.”

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He said: “During Covid, when this task and finish arrangement was agreed by Gold Command, we asked if it might have equal pay implications but were told it did not because of the emergency. However, Covid emergency powers ended over a year ago – to have failed to end this then is unbelievable.”

He said there were ‘millions’ of reasons – referring to the staggering equal pay bill now facing the council – why it needed to be sorted out long ago. “This amounts to gross negligence and the idea that councillors were unaware it was common practice does not bear scrutiny,” said Alden.

One Labour councillor, on condition of anonymity, defended the practice, saying bin workers who left early ‘were carrying out work tasks at home’. When asked what these tasks typically included for a bin loader or driver, they said it included health and safety training and other online learning.

Cllr Alden said that explanation had never been given to opposition members before and he found it ‘incredulous’. Binmen who spoke to BirminghamLive said some workers headed off to second jobs, carried out caring duties or relaxed after speeding through their work.

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