Cornwall Council (19 019 531)
Category : Environment and regulation > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 Jun 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s waste collection service. It is unlikely he would find evidence of fault by the Council causing the complainant injustice that would justify his involvement.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, is disabled. He says the Council has discriminated against him because of his disability. In particular, he says there have been occasions when it has not collected his waste or has not returned his bin to the correct place.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
- We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault;
- the 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), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and background information provided by the Council, including its responses to his concerns. Mr B commented on a draft before I made this decision.
What I found
- The Council says it provides an assisted bin collection service to Mr B in recognition of his disability.
- It appears Mr B has contacted the Council’s waste contractor on occasion because of issues with the collection. Most recently, it placed a sticker on his bin saying he had placed an item in the incorrect bin.
- In May 2019, the Council asked Mr B to contact it directly about any issues so it could take them up with its contractor. There is nothing to suggest he has brought many such issues to the Council’s attention since that time or that the Council has discriminated against him.
Final decision
- I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council causing significant injustice to Mr B.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman