Summary: Ms X complains that although she should receive assisted collection, the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled day. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when they are missed, amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled day. Ms X receives assisted collections and complains that although her neighbours’ waste and recycling is collected, her is repeatedly missed.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Ms X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Ms X;
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Ms X and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

5. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
6. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
7. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.
8. At the end of December 2018 collection crews began industrial action. The Council introduced a contingency plan to make one collection for all waste types each week rather than separate collections of household waste and recycling. The crews began working to rule on 29 December 2018 and the first full day of industrial action was 19 February 2019.
9. The Council moved to a fortnightly collection for all waste types in February 2019. When the industrial action ended in mid-March 2019, the Council returned to weekly household and fortnightly recycling collections.
10. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.

What happened here

11. Mrs X complains she has had problems with her assisted collections for almost two years. She states she has to get up early on scheduled collections days to remind the collection crews to take her waste. If she does not remind them, the crews do not take her waste and recycling.
12. Mrs X states she has spoken to the collection crews who told her they do not have a list of the assisted collections on the route. And as it is not always the same collection crew they do not know, or remember, who should have assisted collections.
13. The Council’s records show Mrs X has reported six missed household collections and two missed recycling collections over the last 12 months. These reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed do not suggest collections were made in a timely manner or on the next scheduled collection day. The records also suggest that other collections were also missed.
14. For example, Mrs X reported a missed collection on 30 October 2018, and the Council closed this report on 22 November 2018. This would suggest that collections scheduled for 5, 12 and 19 November 2018 were also missed. Had the Council made the collections as scheduled it could have closed the reports sooner.
15. Similarly, Mrs X reported a missed collection on 30 January 2019 and the Council closed the report on 18 February 2019. If the Council had made the collections scheduled for 4 and 11 February 2019 it could have closed the report sooner.
16. The Council states there may be a delay between the missed collections being made and the report being closed, so it is not necessarily the case that the intervening collections were also missed. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates the missed collections were made.
17. In addition to reporting missed collections Mrs X also made formal complaints. Mrs X complained in February 2019 that her bins had not been collected again that week, but the rest of the street had been collected. She asked the Council to look into the matter as she had already complained in November 2018, but nothing had changed, and her waste had not been collected since before Christmas.
18. The Council’s response confirmed Mrs X’s request for assisted collections had been forwarded to a manager for approval and she would be notified in due course.
19. As this response did not address Mrs X’s complaint, she asked for her complaint to be reviewed. The Council apologised for the ongoing problems and confirmed it had issued reminders to all crews about collecting and returning her bins. It explained that collections were being made fortnightly by contractors and this had impacted on the assisted collections service. The Council confirmed it now provided lists and all collections should be completed.
20. According to the Council’s records Mrs X reported a further missed collection and contacted the Council again in late March 2019. Mrs X complained that unless she stood outside her house and directed collection crews to her bins they were still not being collected. Mrs X also complained again in April 2019. The Council reassured Mrs X there would be no more missed collections. Mrs X contacted the Council again in early May 2019 as despite the Council’s reassurances, her bins had not been collected. Mrs X said she did not know what else to do to resolve the situation, and it was making her unwell.
21. The Council advised Mrs X it could not deal with her latest complaint as it had already dealt with a complaint about this issue. Mrs X asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint as the Council had not resolved the problem.
22. In response to my enquiries the Council states that collection crews are advised of assisted collections via mobile technology in the vehicles and manual print outs in the crew packs. The Council acknowledges that there have been missed collections but states the situation has now settled down as the rounds are better balanced rounds so crews are able to complete work on the scheduled day. It also states there has been more focus on ensuring crew packs are accurately updated and worked through by crews.
23. Since complaining to us Mrs X has confirmed that collections of her household waste have improved, but there is still an issue with her recycling collections.

Analysis

24. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
25. The Council accepts that collections have been missed, and that there will have been delays in these missed collections being made. Its records of missed collections appear to be inaccurate or incomplete to the extent I do not consider them to be a reliable indication of when collections were missed, or household waste and recycling were collected from Mrs X’s property.
26. Although the Council states Mrs X only reported eight missed collections, I consider it likely several more were missed collections. I note Mrs X’s complaint in February 2019 refers to the last collection being before Christmas. And the record of Mrs X’s complaint in May 2019 states that due to errors in its forms the officer was unable to log Mrs X’s report of a missed collection that day.
27. The operational difficulties and industrial action in late 2018 and early 2019, will inevitably have affected services. But this does not explain why Mrs X’s waste and recycling was not routinely collected on the scheduled days prior to the industrial action, or why it has been repeatedly missed since. It is also unclear why, if details of assisted collections appear on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and are added to the crew packs, Mrs X’s household waste and recycling was missed when the rest of the street was collected.
28. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mrs X’s complaints. Despite the Council’s assurances it had reminded the crew members and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued. It is also a concern that the Council refused to accept Mrs X’s further complaint in May 2019, given that the problem had not been resolved.
29. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mrs X a significant injustice. Mrs X is elderly and has had to get up early on collection day to remind collection crews to empty her bins. When this has not been possible, she has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste left at her property for several weeks at a time. She has also been put to time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

Agreed action

30. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections has caused.
31. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
32. The Council has also agreed to carry out a period of monitoring to ensure Mrs X’s waste and recycling is collected on the scheduled days. This monitoring should begin within one month of the final decision on this complaint and continue for a period of eight weeks.

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Final decision

33. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when they are missed, amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman