Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a report of an overflowing bin. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter. Nor is there evidence that the issue has caused the complainant a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complained to the Council about an overflowing bin outside his property. Mr X complains to the Ombudsman about how the Council dealt with his complaint.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. In November 2021, Mr X sent an email to the Head of Waste and Street Cleansing asking for an explanation as to why a bin outside his property had not been emptied. He did not receive a reply.
6. Mr X contacted the Council again in December, about an overflowing bin outside his property. The Council informed Mr X that the bin was due to be emptied the following day and that there had been no reports of missed collections from the previous week. However, the Council did arrange for a crew to empty the bin that day. The Council advised Mr X of how he could report missed bin collections in the future, either online or via the telephone. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman about how the Council dealt with his complaint about these matters.
7. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council did not respond tohis email in November. Whilst I appreciate this may have caused him a certain level of frustration, I do not consider that this alone is a significant enough injustice to warrant our further involvement.
8. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his report of an overflowing bin in December. Councils can only act on reports of issues with bins if it is made aware of the issue. In this case it had not received a report from either its online reporting system or via its call desk. When it was made aware by Mr X, it rectified the issue on the same day. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council responded to the report, nor is there any evidence that Mr X suffered an injustice.
9. Finally, I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about these matters. An investigation solely into the handling of a complaint is neither justified or a good used of resources if we are not investigating the substantive matter.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault and he has not been caused a significant injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman