Summary: The Council has repeatedly failed to collect Mr B’s household waste and recycling causing inconvenience and expense. It has agreed to remedy the injustice caused by apologising and making a payment to Mr B.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste and recycling over the last 12 months causing inconvenience and expense.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information provided by Mr B, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments and the documents it provided.
5. I have written to Mr B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

Key facts

6. Mr B lives in a house which has been converted into flats. He complained to the Council about its failure to collect the recycling and general waste bins in May 2018. He said this had happened at least six times since January 2018 resulting in a pile of rubbish outside the property which was being torn apart and the contents spilled by foxes and rats.
7. Mr B explained the bins are placed in the communal bin area and cannot be moved closer to the entrance because this would either block the entrance to the building or the entrance to the rear garden path both of which are required to be kept clear for health and safety reasons.
8. The Council responded at stage 1 of its complaints procedure on 23 July 2018 and apologised for the missed collections. It said the contractor would speak to the crews responsible and collections would be monitored for six weeks.
9. Mr B wrote to the Council again. A complaints officer, Officer X, responded to his complaint at stage 2 on 28 September 2018 having visited the property. She confirmed all the crews had been fully briefed on the issues with the collection, the property had been added to the weekly tasking list and the crews asked to submit photographs each week to ensure they are completing the collections.
10. Officer X said the contracts officer had confirmed collections were to be made from the bins in their current location and there was no need for them to be moved onto the footpath. It was agreed the collections would be monitored for a further six weeks. The Council awarded Mr B £50 in recognition of the time and trouble he had been put to.
11. On 29 October 2018 Mr B contacted Officer X stating a collection was missed on 22 October 2018.
12. Mr B reported further missed collections in December 2018 and the address was placed back on the monitoring list. However, Mr B reported a further missed collection on 8 January 2019.
13. On 17 March 2019 Mr B sent an email to the Council stating that the bins had not been collected for around two months. He said he tried to report the missed collection on 15 March 2019 via the Council’s website but had received an error message.
14. Officer X referred the matter to the contracts monitoring officer (CMO) who reported a missed collection on 18 March 2019. She monitored the property at the end of April and in May and then stopped because she felt the collection service was “fine”.
15. The Council contacted the contractor stating that the issues with collection were continuing despite the property being on the monitoring list since December 2018 and requested that monitoring continue. The contract manager responded stating that the bins are located on gravel and very difficult to move. He asked whether an officer had ever visited to assess the situation and liaise with the residents. The Council suggested a joint visit with the contractor to liaise with the residents regarding bin location and presentation of the bins on collection day.
16. Mr B reported further missed collections in May and June 2019.
17. The contractors and Council officers visited the property on 12 June 2019. The Council reimbursed Mr B £203 for pest control services he had employed and £50 for rubbish clearance.
18. In July 2019 another resident reported problems with the bins not being collected stating this had been an ongoing problem for “months and months”.
19. On 13 August 2019 the CMO wrote to Mr B stating she had visited with the contractors to assess the problem. She said the bins were placed on gravel which is a health and safety hazard and the waste and recycling services team considered the best place to put the bins would be behind the gate outside the property. She said there was enough space for the bins in that location where they could be placed on a hard surface. She said the Council and the contractors had agreed to collect the bins from that location. She also confirmed the Council and the contractors would be monitoring jointly to ensure the crews were carrying out their duties to the required standard. She apologised on behalf of the contractor for the poor service. She also confirmed that any future missed collections should be reported online via ‘My Account’ rather than by email.
20. Mr B says collections have now improved.

Analysis

21. The Council has a legal duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling free of charge.
22. Following Mr B’s complaint in May 2018, the Council placed his address on the monitoring list for the contractors to monitor for six weeks. The address was put back on the monitoring list in December 2018 following further missed collections. However, the contractors have no records of monitoring the address. This is fault.
23. The Council has failed to collect Mr B’s bins on many occasions since the January 2018.
24. The Council says the reason for the missed collections is because of the location of the bins. It says they are placed on gravel in the driveway of the property with the handles next to the wall. The crew cannot move the bins for health and safety reasons because they cannot access the handles and the weight of the bins makes the wheels sink into the gravel making them difficult to move. It says the bins need to be placed on a hard surface so crews can manoeuvre the bins properly.
25. The Council has sent an email to Mr B explaining the best collection point for the crew which is at the side of the property. However, Mr B has explained that the bins cannot be placed in this location because they would block the side access to the property which is required to be kept clear in the event of a fire.
26. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr B’s household waste and recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner, amounts to fault.
27. This failure caused Mr B a significant injustice. He says the overflowing bins caused problems with flies and rats and the residents had to pay pest control to sort out the problems. He says they have spent a total of £150 on cleaning services and £360 on pest control services. They have also spent hours collecting rubbish scattered around the front of the property.
28. The Council has paid Mr B a total of £303 in recognition of the expenses residents incurred. While this goes some way towards remedying the injustice caused, I consider this payment is not a sufficient remedy.

Agreed action

29. In addition to the payments already made, the Council has agreed that, within one month of this decision, it will:
• apologise to Mr B for the poor service and the inconvenience this caused;
• pay Mr B £100 in recognition of the time and trouble he has been put to; and
• advise its contractor that it should retain records of monitoring and consider taking photographs as evidence that collections have been completed.
30. When a Council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them. So, although I found fault with the service provided by the Council’s contractors, I have made recommendations to the Council.

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Final decision

31. I find the Council was at fault in that its contractors:
• repeatedly failed to collect Mr B’s household waste and recycling; and
• failed to keep records of monitoring despite Mr B’s address being placed on the monitoring list on two occasions.
32. I have completed my investigation because the Council has agreed to implement my recommendations.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman