Summary: the complainant says the Council delayed registering an application for an assisted bin collection service and failed to collect bins as arranged or return them causing inconvenience and distress. The Council recognises it missed collections and offered a partial refund of the garden refuse service fee. The Ombudsman finds the Council at fault in its management of the waste collection service for the complainant.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council failed to:
• Offer suitable contact choices for making and following up complaints about waste collection services or information about how to progress a complaint or report a problem;
• Properly manage an application for an assisted bin collection service or supervise the service leading to missed collections.
2. Mr X represents a relative I refer to as Mrs Y, who needs help with waste collections and whose assisted bin collection the Council missed. This has caused Mrs Y inconvenience and distress.

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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 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. In considering this complaint I have:
• Spoken with Mr X, read the complaint and information presented with it including records of extensive email communication;
• Put enquiries to the Council and reviewed its response;
• Researched the relevant law, guidance and policy;
• Shared with Mr X and the Council my draft decision and reflected on any comments received.

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What I found

The Council’s waste collection service

6. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 places a duty on councils to collect household and recyclable waste from properties within its area.
7. The Council offers an assisted bin collection service to help those residents who cannot manage moving their bins out of their properties for collection and return. The Council includes garden waste collections in the assisted bin collection service. The Council charges an annual fee of £75 for garden waste collections.
8. If the Council fails to collect garden waste bins it may offer a refund depending on the circumstances.
9. The Council set a target of 2 working days from the report of a missed bin collection to return and empty the bin. For assisted collections the Council says it will return and empty the bin provided it is visible and accessible.
10. Residents can report missed bins online or by telephone. However, the Council says the telephone service is often busy, so it directs residents to use its website where possible. The Council’s new website launched on 1 October 2019 has an escalation form so users can follow up an outstanding request.

What happened

11. Mr X applied for an assisted bin collection for Mrs Y, on 19 February 2019. The Council sent an automated acknowledgement showing it had received the application. Mr X followed up the application by email on 5 and 18 March 2019. The Council says it cannot explain why it did not assess the application and register Mrs Y for an assisted bin collection until 29 March 2019.
12. On 19 March 2019 Mr X presented a complaint about the lack of response to his application for an assisted bin collection service. He also complained about the use of a ‘no reply’ email and the lack of information about to whom he should complain.
13. On 27 March 2019 the Council emailed Mr X confirming the Council would offer an assisted bin collection service from 3 April 2019. On 29 March 2019 the Council added Mrs Y’s address to the assisted collection list.
14. In the first month of the service, the Council’s crews collected Mrs Y’s green bin but not the brown bin. Mr X complained to the Council on 5 April 2019 about this failure. The Council says this is a busy time of year for the garden waste crews and they used paper-based information to tell crews who had an assisted bin collection service. The crews had just started a new scheme and had not received the weekly update showing Mrs Y’s home as eligible for an assisted bin collection service. The Council has updated the hardware in vehicle cabs so it can update crews immediately.
15. Mr X reported a missed collection on 13 June. The Council says the service received this on 14 June and actioned it within two working days (17 June 2019). On 18 June 2019 a Council officer spoke with Mr X, apologised for the failures in the service and explained the Council had the service under review and had proposed improvements.
16. The Council offered Mr X a £10 refund for the failure to empty the garden waste bin on the scheduled day. The Council told Mr X it had made changes, so it no longer used a no reply email address. Mr X refused the offer of a £10 refund and asked the Council to refund the whole £75 charge. The Council refused to refund the whole charge but offered to refund half the charge (£37.50).
17. In July 2019 Mr X reported to the Council the crew had collected the brown bin but did not return it to Mrs Y’s property. The Council reminded the crew that Mrs Y received the assisted bin collection service and that they should return the bin to her property.
18. In August 2019 Mr X complained the Council had not responded to his earlier emails, and the crew had not collected the blue bin. The Council agreed to empty the blue bin. Mr X reported a further missed bin collection and the Council had the bin emptied the same day. In response to enquiries into the missed collections, the crew reported the bins were not visible due to parked cars.
19. The Council planned improvements to its website in October 2019 when it hoped to deal with the issue of no reply emails and to upload new forms for complaints and reports of service failure.
20. In responding to my enquiries, the Council says it received over 30 emails from Mr X about the failings in the collection service. The Council says it recognises it did fail to collect Mrs Y’s bins and it offered a half year refund in recognition. The Council says it did not offer a full refund because Mrs Y will continue to receive the garden waste service for the rest of the year.
21. Mr X says missed collections or not returning it to Mrs Y’s property causes Mrs Y distress. Mrs Y cannot put the bin out or move it back onto her property, that is why she has an assisted bin collection service. Mr X believes the Council is failing to properly manage the service and that its complaints procedures are poor. Mr X says the Council sent emails which accepted ‘no reply’ making it difficult to follow up his concerns. Mr X says this put him to avoidable time and inconvenience dealing with the issues.

Analysis – has there been fault leading to injustice?

22. My role is to consider if the Council has provided the service and responded properly to complaints received about it. Where the Council has offered a remedy, my role is to consider if it is proportionate to the harm alleged.
23. Assisted bin collections provide an important service to disabled, elderly or vulnerable residents who find they cannot easily manage to put out their bins for collection or return them to their property. The garden waste collection is the subject of a fee charged for the service.
24. It is important residents can report problems and have information on how to progress complaints. The use of no reply emails does not promote good communication and I note the Council directed its crews and staff not to use them. The service area does not have control of all contacts with the Council such as its central complaints team and therefore could not prevent the use of no reply emails. While no reply emails are not helpful other than to recognise contact it is clear they did not prevent Mr X from taking his complaint further.
25. The Council’s crews missed collections. That is a poor service leaving the resident with a bin full of waste outside awaiting collection. The Council asks residents to ensure the bin is visible for collection from the property. However, crews should take time to identify the bin. Parked cars are a common problem for waste collection crews who will have developed methods of ensuring they miss as few bins as possible. Supervisors should go with crews occasionally to help identify any problems and offer solutions.
26. The Council did not immediately register Mrs Y for the assisted bin collection service. That resulted in Mrs Y missing the service throughout March 2019. I find the Council at fault for that month’s delay. This caused Mrs Y to struggle with getting her bins out for collection or arranging for someone else to do that for her for a month longer than she should.
27. The Council does not have a duty to collect garden waste and offers this collection for a fee. Missed garden waste collections resulted in Mrs Y cancelling a visit by her gardener. That resulted in leaving a bin full of rotting garden waste outside her property and delays to her garden maintenance.
28. Missed collections happen. However, councils should make it easy for residents to report missed collections. They should have clear information about how and when the Council will deal with any missed collection. The Council should deal quickly with missed collections. The Council says it does.
29. Between April and August 2019, the Council missed at least one bin collection every month except May and in August missed two collections. On one occasion while the crew emptied the bin, they did not return it to Mrs Y’s property.
30. The Council recognised it missed collections. The Council apologised and directed the crew to collect the bins. It offered a refund on the garden waste collection service of half the annual fee.
31. The Council did not however, arrange for monitoring of the service to check crews collected properly or to identify if there are any impediments to crews finding and returning the bins for Mrs Y.
32. Returning to collect missed collections within 2 working days means occasionally waste can be sat in a bin for several days (where the two days include a Sunday or public holiday). It is important therefore the Council arranges collection as soon as possible and on at least one occasion it returned to collect a missed bin on the same day Mr X reported it.
33. The missed collections caused distress, inconvenience in the bin not being available for further waste deposits and delay in work in Mrs Y’s garden. I find the Council at fault for the missed collections and failure to monitor the service for a short time causing inconvenience and distress. In recommending remedial action I have considered the reduction in the garden waste fee.

Recommended and agreed action

34. To remedy the injustice to Mrs Y I recommend, and the Council agrees to within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs Y for the inconvenience and distress caused;
• Arrange monitoring all the waste collections for three months including a supervisor joining the crew to identify if there are any problems on site;
• Consider offering Mrs Y a further reduction in the garden waste fee should the Council miss further garden waste collections. If there are any further missed household or recyclable collections the Council should consider offering Mrs Y a further payment;
• Provide Mrs Y and Mr X with a named contact to whom they can report any further problems and contact to follow up on their complaints.
• Pay Mr X on Mrs Y’s behalf £100 for the delay in registering and providing the assisted bin collection service. This recognises the inconvenience and distress caused by that delay and the lack of effective monitoring in response to her complaint.
35. I make no further recommendation about the garden waste collection service other than the Council consider making a further refund if it misses further collections. The Council’s previous offer of a refund is proportionate to the number of missed collections and Mrs Y will continue to benefit from the service for the rest of the agreement’s term.

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Final decision

36. In completing my investigation, I find the Council acted with fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman