Residents have reported almost 15,000 wheelie bins not being collected in just one month.

Waste and recycling and collections across Southampton have faced severe disruption following a change in working system.

The city council moved from a ‘task and finish’ practice to staff working their contracted hours at the end of January.

Leaders said the change was to “cap” an equal pay liability that had arisen as one group of workers in the council had different terms and conditions to others.

Members of the overview and scrutiny management committee quizzed officers and the Labour administration on the disruption last month.

Off the back of this meeting, details have now been published on missed bins in February.

Residents made reports to the council that 7,598 residual bins, 7,027 recycling bins, 221 glass bins and 98 green bins were not made.

The council document notes the total of 14,944 does not provide a “comprehensive picture” of all missed bins as not all residents across the city would have reported when their bin was not collected.

At the meeting in March, the council’s director of environment, Ian Collins, said the percentage of scheduled collections completed in February was 97.3 per cent.

Conservative councillor Jeremy Moulton said this figure “did not pass the smell test”.

The written update to the scrutiny committee says the 97.3 per cent collection rate did not provide a full picture of the disruption.

However, it adds: “The statistic was offered to illustrate the tenfold increase in service requests experienced between January and February 2024 and therefore an indication of the severe impact being experienced by residents and the determination of SCC to address this disruption.”

Council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker has provided a confidential briefing document to the committee on details related to the administration’s communications with the waste collectors and trade union representatives.