In March 2022, the London Borough of Sutton issued Veolia UK with a Service Improvement Notice (SIN) over concerns around the current contracts' recent performance. 

Following the issuing of the Service Improvement Notice, Veolia supplied the Council with a Service Improvement Action Plan to respond to the concerns raised in the SIN.

The points listed below are a summary of the issues raised and progress made by Veolia UK to date.

View the Sutton Council SIN in full.

View the Veolia SIN response action plan in full.

Sutton Council improvement point 1

Address HGV driver staff shortages that were impacting communal flat recycling through resourcing and training.

Veolia Action Plan

A driver recruitment, training, and retention plan is to be devised to increase service resilience.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

Staffing levels have since stabilised, resulting in improved driver availability and communal flat recycling rounds being consistently deployed since April 2022. Collections are currently running at a 99.9% completion rate. Future emphasis continues to be on reducing reliance on temporary drivers.

Target Resolution Date

2022

Sutton Council improvement point 2

Review the flats above shops collection service.

Veolia Action Plan

To conduct a comprehensive review of the service consolidating rounds to ultimately improve service delivery.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

Veolia has conducted a service audit of the flats above shops collection service with initial findings and recommendations including options to be considered and implemented.

Target Resolution Date:

Quarter 2 - 2022

Sutton Council improvement point 3

Improve the timescales for container deliveries.

Veolia Action Plan

Veolia to submit proposals to manage increased demand as part of the annual review process.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

Veolia submitted a proposal to increase round resources to manage excess container delivery requests within service level agreements. Service to be implemented in August 2022.

Target Resolution Date

Quarter 2 - 2022

Sutton Council improvement point 4

A timetable for Veolia staff to undergo specific training required to manage traffic on busy roads, enabling them to be cleaned.

Veolia Action Plan

Veolia workforce to undertake chapter 8 training to legally allow the traffic management of dangerous roads and implement traffic management orders (TMO) where needed.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

Veolia frontline staff enrolled on a chapter 8 training programme now complete with the first of the Traffic Management Orders (TMOs) put in place for May 2022.

Target Resolution Date

Quarter 1 - 2022

Sutton Council improvement point 5

Improve street cleansing standards overall and Improved Town Centre cleansing.

Veolia Action Plan

Veolia to conduct ongoing joint inspections to share best practice and record issues. Veolia to also review service reports, consolidate beat sweepers and deploy an extra member of staff to support High Street cleansing activities.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

The introduction of an additional High Street sweeper and the rescheduling of existing beat sweepers in April 2022 has been complemented by the procurement of 4.5 replacement small mechanical sweepers resulting in a steady improvement of cleansing standards across both High Streets and residential roads.

Joint inspections conducted since April 2022 have seen an improvement of 37% on High Streets cleansing and a 58% improvement on residential roads.

Target Resolution Date

Quarter 1 - 2022

Sutton Council improvement point 6

Resource for handling customer engagement/enquiries.

Veolia Action Plan

Veolia to recruit, train and mobilise additional resources.

Progress update (Q1 2022)

Veolia has introduced an additional post to manage the administration of resident enquiries and service complaints. This has been introduced from June 22 to aid contractual accountability.

Target Resolution Date

Quarter 2 - 2022

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