Summary: The complainant says the Council has often missed her bin collections even after it registered her on its assisted bin collection service. The Council says it followed up complaints about missed bins with the crews involved and offered help from its recycling officers to ensure the complainant placed the correct items in the correct bins. The Council responded to complaints verbally. The Ombudsman finds fault in the service provided and, in the failure to follow up decisions given verbally with written information to ensure the complainant understood the message given.

The complaint

1. The complainant whom I shall refer to as Miss X, says the Council has regularly failed to collect the waste from her home, even though the Council registered her for the Council’s assisted bin collection. Miss X says the Council responded to some complaints saying its records say bins have been emptied when they had not.
2. Miss X says this has caused inconvenience and distress. Miss X wants the Council to improve the assisted bin collection service and ensure its waste collection crews properly empty her bins.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. In considering this complaint I have:
• Contacted Miss X and read the information presented with her complaint;
• Put enquiries to the Council and reviewed its decision;
• Researched the relevant law, guidance and policy;
• Shared with Miss X and the Council a draft decision and reflected on any comments received.

Back to top

What I found

6. The Council offers an assisted bin collection to help residents who experience difficulties in putting out their household and recycling waste for collection. Each crew receives notice of which homes on their round have an assisted bin collection. The crew members should attend the home, collect and empty the bin and return it to the property. The Council asks customers to ensure the bins are visible, so crews know from where to collect and return them.
7. Miss X says since summer 2018 the waste collection crews have often missed collections of her bins. Although the Council has apologised its crews continued to miss collections.
8. In responding to my enquiries, the Council says one crew questioned Miss X’s eligibility for the service and this may have led the crew to miss the collection. The Council gave a written instruction to the crew to collect and empty Miss X’s waste bins in future.
9. A council officer visited Miss X and discussed her concerns. The officer says Miss X appeared confused about when the Council would collect her brown and green bins. The Council says it offered Miss X help from the recycling officers because on some occasions Miss X deposited the wrong items in the bin. This would mean crews could not take or empty that bin. The Council says Miss X refused any support.
10. The Council says crews have recorded mixed waste in the wrong bins as a reason for non-collection. The Council has directed crews to report every collection day on whether it collected and emptied the bin. If it has not the crew must say why. The Council says when it does not collect a bin the Council will contact Miss X to explain why. Miss X says this does not happen.
11. The Council says it first received a formal complaint about the service in December 2018. Miss X complained she had not received an assisted bin collection service even though the Council had told her it had added her to the list. The Council gave her waste bags which she found difficult to use. Miss X complained the procedure for applying for an assisted bin collection was needlessly complex.
12. The Council responded by saying it had updated the crew by issuing a written memo to ensure the crew collected the missed green bin collection. The Council confirmed to its crew Miss X appeared on the assisted bin collection list for her area.
13. Miss X called the Council again in January 2019 to say the crew had missed her bin again. In response the Council told Miss X its officer had spoken with the crew and issued an instruction to provide an assisted bin collection service at her address. The Council said it had also confirmed this through the crew’s on-board live reporting system. The Council said it would arrange for the missed bin team to call at the property and clear the waste.
14. Miss X complained again on 10 January 2019 again saying the Council had again not collected her bins. Miss X also said the Council had told her its crew had collected bins when they had not. In the telephone call in reply to her complaint on 15 January 2019 the Council apologised for the missed collection. It said it had used a different crew from the usual team and they had not realised Miss X received the assisted bin service.
15. On 14 January 2019 Miss X raised a complaint at Stage 2 of the Council’s complaints procedure. In response the Council decided to replace waste bags with wheeled bins and to continue ensuring crews know she is on the assisted bin collection service.
16. In responding to my enquiries, the Council has not provided details of how many times the crew missed the collection. I do not have information showing how often this arose due to crew error or because items had not been placed in the correct bins. The Council has told me Miss X received wheeled bins and it regularly empties them. However, crew members say they do not empty the recycling bin when it contains items not suitable for recycling. Therefore, some collections continue to be missed.

Analysis - was there fault leading to injustice?

17. My role is to consider how the Council responded to complaints about missed collections, decide if there has been any fault and whether this caused an injustice for which the Council should provide a remedy.
18. The Council says its crew missed at least one bin collection because crew members questioned Miss X’s eligibility for the assisted bin service. Crews should report any concerns about whether someone is eligible, however they do not decide eligibility. Therefore, while they may report concerns, they should not refuse a collection service for someone who the Council has assessed as eligible. It is for the Council to review eligibility in response to the crew’s concerns and to let the customer know if the Council is considering withdrawing the service. I find the Council at fault for not collecting the bins when the crew challenged Miss X’s eligibility. I also find fault for not ensuring crew members understood that is not a decision for them.
19. It should be clear from the information about the area collection which customers receive an assisted bin collection, regardless of which crew carries out the collection. Saying a different or temporary crew had not realised Miss X should receive the assisted bin service shows the Council failed to provide detailed instructions to that crew. I find the Council at fault for that failure.
20. I have not seen records showing what waste Miss X wrongly put in the bins. I do not have copies of any information shared with Miss X before, during or after the officer’s meeting with her when the officer offered help from the recycling team. Waste deposited in the wrong bin can lead to crews refusing to collect the bin. However, the Council should make clear to the customer the reasons for non-collection. Customers will make mistakes. Where a customer receiving an assisted bin collection service is not clear what they should place in the bin the Council should consider emptying the bin. The need for the assisted bin collection suggests the customer would encounter difficulty in dealing with the waste the Council had refused to collect and so it should consider offering help. The Council should then follow that up with a written explanation of what the customer needs to do in future.
21. I do not have records showing how many other times the Council missed Miss X’s bin collections. The Council does not deny it missed those collections and in its responses to Miss X apologises for the missed collections. Miss X says these missed collections have occurred several times in the last year and I have no evidence to contradict that.
22. The responses to Miss X’s complaints have all been verbal and not followed up with written explanations or information about how she may take her complaint further. Verbal communication is good, helpful and welcome. However, to ensure customers understand the message the Council should follow up that communication in writing. Formal complaints considered at either stages 1 or 2 of the Council’s formal complaints procedure should include a written response. It provides a record of what information the Council considered and its reasons for its decision. I find the Council at fault for not giving written responses to the formal complaints as well as its verbal response.
23. In providing a response to a formal complaint the Council should set out what it has done to investigate that complaint, who it spoke to, the records it has considered. Again, a verbal response may give that information, but it is not enough. The Council should also give a written response setting out what information the Council considered when deciding its response to the complaint. In this case I would expect this to include referring Miss X to the Council’s records of how many times crews missed the collections and setting out the reasons for not collecting the bins.
24. I commend the Council’s officers for visiting Miss X to discuss her concerns and offering help from the recycling team to help her ensure she places items in the correct bins for collection.
25. The faults identified have led to inconvenience and anxiety for Miss X.

Recommended and agreed action

26. To remedy the injustice arising from the faults identified in the investigation I recommend, and the Council agrees to within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Miss X;
• Provide information on what items she can place in which bin;
• Review how officers respond to formal complaints;
• Arrange for an officer to review each week the on-board records of when crews collect or do not collect and empty Miss X’s bin for the next 10 weeks to decide if there are any systemic problems with the collection service;
• Pay Miss X £100 in recognition of the avoidable stress and inconvenience caused to her.

Back to top

Final decision

27. In completing my investigation, I find the Council at fault in its management of the assisted waste bin collection service offered to Miss X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman