Summary: Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed since April 2019. The Council’s failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections since April 2019 amounts to fault. As does the failure to properly investigate Miss X’s complaint. These faults have caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed since April 2019.
2. Miss X also complains the Council has failed to adequately respond to her complaints or resolve the problem.

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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 information provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Miss X; and
• 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. 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.
9. At the end of December 2018 collection crews began industrial action. The crews began working to rule on 29 December 2018 and the first full day of industrial action was 19 February 2019. The industrial action ended in mid-March 2019.

What happened here

10. Miss X’s complaint does not relate to the period of industrial action. She complains that since April 2019 the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled days. Ms X states she gets different explanations and excuses for the missed collections, depending on who she speaks to.
11. When Miss X spoke to the collection crews, she states they told her they do not have enough time to complete the round, so they just do as much as they can. This means her street is repeatedly missed. Miss X states the crew has also told her they no longer collect the bins from the rear of her property as there was an ongoing investigation into an incident.
12. There is a road behind Miss X’s property with properties facing on to the rear of her own. Miss X states that she has always put her bin out for collection at the back of her house and it was emptied with the other bins on that street. When Miss X was told to present her bin at the front of the property, she states she did so, and it was still not collected.
13. Miss X also complains that when the clean up van comes around to pick up the waste missed during the collection, they will not take the black bags that have been left. As a result, there is a build-up of black bags which encourages fly tipping and maggots.
14. According to the Council’s records, Miss X has reported four missed household waste collections and two missed recycling collections over the last 12 months. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made.
15. The most recent reports appear to have been closed on the next scheduled collection dates. But the dates the reports of missed collections in April 2019 were closed suggest there were other missed collections. The report of a missed household waste collection on 2 April 2019 was closed on 29 April 2019. This would suggest other scheduled collections were also missed.
16. Similarly, a report of a missed recycling collection on 10 April 2019 was closed on 8 May 2019. As there should have been fortnightly collections, this would suggest the collection scheduled for 24 April 2019 was also missed.
17. In addition to reporting missed collections, Miss X also complained to the Council. Her complaint of 23 April 2019 refers to her household waste and recycling collections being repeatedly missed. She complained her recycling had not been collected for four weeks. Her household waste had also been missed but had been collected that day. Miss X told the Council she had made numerous calls to report missed collections. She also complained that crews were not collecting from the street to the rear of her property, where she presented her bins.
18. The Council responded on 14 May 2019 and apologised for the erratic recycling collections during the industrial action. It confirmed that collections were returning to schedule and noted her recycling had now been collected.
19. Miss X was not satisfied by the Council’s response and asked for her complaint to be considered further. The Council asked the depot to confirm where Miss X’s bins should be presented. It then responded to Miss X’s complaint and apologised for the problems with her collections. The Council advised that all bins should be presented to the front of the property. It had notified the crews that Miss X presented her bins to the rear of her property but could only guarantee collections from the designated point at the front. The Council advised that if there was a change in crews her bins could be missed at the rear of her property.
20. As Miss X remained dissatisfied, she made further complaint. She questioned whether anyone had looked into her complaint as there were designated collections points to the front and rear of her property, but the bins were not being collected from either. Miss X asserted her bins were not being collected as depot managers had told the collection crews to miss some roads as they did not have time to collect from them.
21. On 24 June 2019 Miss X complained to the Council again that her household waste and recycling had not been collected. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint and apologised for the service disruption since January 2019. It explained there were ongoing operational difficulties which they were working to resolve.
22. Miss X has complained to the Ombudsman as her household waste and recycling are still not routinely collected on the scheduled day. In response to my enquiries the Council states it has asked the depot to monitor Miss X’s household waste and recycling collections for the next month. It will extend this monitoring if there are further missed collections during this period.
23. The Council states the refuse collection crew for the round which includes Miss X’s road is not always able to complete the work on the scheduled day. It states that when this happens, crews are expected to start collecting from the road they dropped the previous week. Monitoring should identify whether there is an issue with the round. The Council states it will be reviewing all rounds in the very near future to try and optimise routes and better facilitate work completion.

Analysis

24. It is clear from the information available that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault. Miss X has not received regular household waste or recycling collections since April 2019.
25. Although the Council states Miss X has only reported six missed collections, I consider it likely several more were missed collections. I note Miss X’s complaint in April 2019 states she has made numerous calls to report missed collections and that her recycling had not been collected for four weeks. Her complaint in June 2019 also refers to missed household waste and recycling collections that day, which do not appear to have been logged. Miss X also reports that the problem of missed collections has continued since she raised her complaint with us.
26. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when the waste was actually collected.
27. There was also fault in the way the Council responded to Miss X’s complaints. Rather than respond to the specific concerns raised the Council provided standardised responses that did not resolve the issue. Miss X had not reported a problem with her collections during the period of industrial action so the Council’s apologies for problems during this period were not necessary or appropriate. Had the Council investigated Miss X’s complaint that the streets to the front and rear of her property were regularly being dropped by the collection crews it could have taken action to address this issue much sooner.
28. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. Miss X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste and recycling left at her property. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s poor complaint responses. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
29. I recognise the Council is now monitoring Miss X’s collections and would expect this to improve the service.

Agreed action

30. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 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.

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Final decision

32. The Council’s failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections since April 2019 amounts to fault. As does the failure to properly investigate Miss X’s complaint. These faults have caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman