Swindon Borough Council (23 016 250)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about problems with Ms X’s household waste and recycling collections. The Council has clarified the new collection arrangements for Ms X’s property and has said it will update its website. An investigation by the Ombudsman would not achieve anything more.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X, complained the Council had made changes to her household waste and recycling collections without informing her. This led to missed collections. Ms X said there was inconsistent information in the Council’s complaint response and on its website. This showed different collection dates for properties in the same building and wrongly listed a communal bin collection.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In response to our enquiries the Council has confirmed the collection arrangements for Ms X and neighbouring properties. It has explained why information on its website can appear inconsistent and has said it will make changes to address this. I have shared the Council’s response with Ms X.
- We will not therefore start an investigation into Ms X’s complaint. While I understand her frustrations, an investigation would not add anything to the Council’s response or achieve a different outcome. An investigation is not therefore appropriate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to the one already carried out by the Council or lead to a significantly different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman