• The complaint
• The Ombudsman’s role and powers
• How I considered this complaint
• What I found
• Final decision

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s handling of matters relating to the collection of his household waste and its inadequate offer of compensation. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, says the Council delayed unreasonably in providing him with rubbish bins for his household waste and in setting up a regular collection service. It provided a poor customer service in responding to his concerns and its offer of compensation is inadequate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I spoke to Mr B and reviewed the information he provided.

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What I found

4. Mr B has lived at his current property for nearly 30 years and during this time he says the Council never contacted him about receiving a waste collection service. Instead, he says when he asked it about the service when he first moved in, it told him to use the waste bins at a block of flats near to his home.
5. In 2018, following the Council’s issuing of enforcement notices to establish the driver of a car who had been seen placing rubbish into the bins at the block of flats, Mr B was identified as the driver.
6. Mr B explained to the Council the historical arrangements under which he had disposed of his rubbish and it subsequently provided him with rubbish bins and arranged to include his property for the correct collection service. As Mr B considered the setting up of the first regular collection took an unreasonably long time, and he felt he had received a poor response to his many communications about this matter, he complained to the Council.
7. The Council acknowledged it had not provided a service to the required standard and apologised for this. It agreed there had been delays in delivering Mr B’s bins and problems in establishing collections on a regular basis which had taken longer than expected. The Council offered him £150 in recognition of his time and trouble taken to resolve his concerns and the frustration this caused him.

Assessment

8. While I understand the compensation offered by the Council falls short of that sought by Mr B, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome as the offer is broadly in line with what the Ombudsman would propose even if we were to investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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