Abuse against council workers in Lincolnshire on the rise
It's thought the lockdowns increased frustration
Abuse against council workers in Lincolnshire is rising.
One local authority in the area is bringing in stronger safeguards to protect its workers.
North Kesteven District Council, blames the increase in harassment against council workers on built- up frustrations over lockdown.
They also believe frustration in sometimes not being able to contact someone may have played a part too.
The abuse is said to have gone up for everyone from bin workers to the council leader.
One employee has been forced to seek a community protection notice because of the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ of a member of the public.
We spoke to the leader of North Kesteven District Council Richard Wright.
He told us: "For some reason some people seem to think that the council should be someone they can, for want of a better description, sound off at or have expectations that go far beyond anything else that you would normally presume from what is basically a service provider.
"What we can't expect is that anyone who works or is associated with North Kesteven District Council should have to put up with that just because they work for the council - that's unacceptable."
"We want to say to those few people, that fall into this, is that we will find ways of dealing with this."
"We won't just ask people to put up with it."
“As a politician, I can be more robust in my reply than our colleagues feel free to.
"Frankly, I don’t reply in the way some people deserve."
“I don’t know why it has risen because the service level from this authority hasn’t decreased."
"Perhaps frustration has built up over the last few years – we have seen data that people’s mental health and well-being has been affected."
Councillor Mervyn Head told a recent Executive Board meeting: “Nobody should expect to be abused in any shape or form for doing their job.
“I have witnessed some of this first hand when we had the twin-stream rollout with the purple lidded bins.
“One of the collection crews said in the 14 years he had worked for this council, he had never been abused and treated in that way.”
The policies are designed to protect both frontline workers and office staff who deal with members of the public.
The policies will be introduced for North Kesteven District Council’s staff as soon as possible.
Unacceptable behaviour will include aggressive language or tone, persistent and vexatious demands, and other offensive language or threats.