Summary: The complainants all complain the Council has repeatedly failed to collect their household waste, recycling or garden waste. Many of the complainants also complain about poor responses to their complaints.

Finding

Fault found causing injustice and recommendations made.

Recommendations

To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified above, the Council has agreed to:

• apologise to each of the complainants for the failings in its service;
• pay Mrs C, Mr E, Miss F, Mr H, Miss G, Mr N and Mrs O £100 each in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the fault identified above has
• caused them;
• implement a three-month period of monitoring to ensure that Ms B, Mr K, Mrs I, Mr P, Mrs R, Ms D, Mr L, Mr M, Miss J and Mrs Q’s waste collections are made on the scheduled days. In relation to Miss J and Mrs Q, this monitoring should also ensure their assisted collections are carried out properly with their bins being collected and returned to the correct storage point;
• pay Ms B, Mr K, Mr P, Mrs R, Ms D, Mr L, Mr M, Miss J, and Mrs Q £200  each in recognition of the ongoing frustration and difficulties the fault identified above has caused them;
• pay Mrs I £300 in recognition of the ongoing frustration and difficulties the failure to make any waste collections since September 2018 has had on her;
• review the way it considers and responds to refuse complaints to ensure that its responses address the specific issues raised; and
• carry out a ‘lessons learned’ review to analyse and understand what went wrong with the planning and implementation of the changes to its waste collections. It should also assess whether any of those issues are still outstanding. This review should be reported to, and considered by, the relevant overview and scrutiny committee.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 17 February 2020.

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