Summary: Miss X complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her mother’s household waste and recycling on the scheduled day. She also complains that despite frequently complaining to the Council there was no improvement in the service. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her mother’s household waste and recycling on the scheduled day. Miss X’s mother receives assisted collections, but her waste and recycling were repeatedly missed when her neighbours’ were collected.
2. Miss X also complains that despite repeatedly complaining to the Council there was no improvement in the service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

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

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. 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.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
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.
11. 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.

What happened here

12. This is Miss X’s second complaint to the Ombudsman about failings in the Council’s assisted collection service for her mother, Mrs Y. In 2018 Miss X complained the Council had missed several collections and that the refuse collection crew was verbally abusive to her mother. The Council agreed to monitor Mrs Y’s assisted collections. This monitoring confirmed Mrs Y’s bins were collected and returned to her property.
13. Miss X complains that there have been further problems with Mrs Y’s assisted collections since the start of 2019. She also complains that members of the collection crew have verbally abused her and accused Mrs Y of making an unwarranted claim for assisted collections.
14. The Council’s records show Miss X has reported two missed household waste collections and three missed recycling collections in 2019.
15. Miss X also made a formal complaint in early June 2019. She stated there had been missed collections since the beginning of the year. She had reported the issues, but they had not been resolved. Miss X asked the Council to offer Mrs X a private assisted collection service.
16. The Council apologised and confirmed it had passed her complaint to the collection manager. The manager would speak to the crews and weekly reminders would be printed out instructing the crews to carry out assisted collections. Miss X was not satisfied by the Council’s response. She had been told the same thing in relation to her earlier complaints, but this had not resolved the problem. She asked for her complaint to be considered further.
17. Miss X contacted the Council again in July 2019 to report that she had been verbally abused by members of the collection crew who challenged Mrs Y’s need for an assisted collection. The Council assured Miss X it took reports of this nature seriously and would investigate in accordance with the Council’s disciplinary procedures. The Council also confirmed it would not provide Miss X with details of any action taken.
18. In relation to Miss X’s complaint about the missed assisted collections, the Council confirmed it would speak to the crews. It would remind them not only of the assisted collections, but also of the appropriate channels of communication where concerns should be raised with managers, not residents.
19. As this did not resolve the problem and Mrs Y’s assisted collection was missed again, Miss X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. She states that as the collection crew would not make assisted collections Mrs Y had to struggle to take the bins to the roadside. This was not only difficult for Mrs Y, but also presented a risk to Miss X’s sister who was left unsupervised while Mrs Y moved the bins.
20. In response to my enquiries the Council states it runs an assisted collection report at the start of each month with an updated list of all assisted collections. Properties are then manually added to each depot’s hard drive so they can print off and add this to crew information packs. Assisted collection properties also appear on the crew’s mobile technology. It has confirmed that Mrs X has assisted collection status.
21. The Council notes that three of the five reports of missed collections were during the period of industrial action when there were disruptions to the service.
22. In relation to Miss X’s complaint about staff attitudes, the Council states its responses apologised and informed her of the actions that had been taken.

Analysis

23. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
24. Although the Council’s records show Mrs Y only reported missed collections in February and August 2019, Miss X’s complaints refer to other missed collections in June and July 2019. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records to be a reliable indicator of the extent of the problem. I consider it likely that there were more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest.
25. I note however that I have not received details of any ongoing problems with Mrs Y’s assisted collections. This would suggest the situation has been resolved.
26. The Council has investigated Miss X’s complaint about the conduct of members of the collection crew. Miss X was concerned the same collection crew were collecting Mrs Y’s bins, but there is no suggestion of any further similar behaviour by the crew. While we would expect the Council to investigate and take any appropriate action in relation to allegations of this nature, we would not expect the Council to provide Miss X with specific details of any action taken.
27. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mrs X a significant injustice. Mrs X should have received an assisted collection, but has had to move her bins herself, or rely on Miss X to visit to assist her. If she was not able to move the bins, her collections were not always made, and Mrs X had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste left at her property. Miss X has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

28. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.
29. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

30. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman