Summary: Mr X complained about problems with his assisted refuse collection service. He also complained the Council will not allow him to report or complain about this by phone, despite agreeing to do so because of our earlier investigation. We find no fault by the Council. It will accept reports of missed bins and service complaints by phone where someone is unable to do so in writing. It has responded appropriately to the only report of a missed collection it has recorded that Mr X has made since our previous decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to collect and return his bins to the correct place, as agreed by its assisted collection service. He says it has refused to accept his reports about this problem over recent months, or to allow him to complain about this by telephone.
2. Mr X says the Council insists he makes reports and complaints in writing. This is despite it agreeing, in response to the Ombudsman’s final decision from an earlier case (18002365), to change its policy to explain how to complain by phone.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
5. Although the Council had not had an opportunity to respond to Mr X’s complaint before he came to the Ombudsman I used my discretion to investigate this complaint because it concerned alleged difficulty in making complaints and related to actions agreed by the Council during an earlier Ombudsman investigation.
6. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we will weigh up the available relevant evidence and base our findings on what we think was more likely to have happened.
7. 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

8. I spoke and wrote to Mr X about his complaint.
9. I asked the Council questions about the complaint and spoke to customer service advisors.
10. I gave the Council and Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Legislation

11. Councils operate assisted bin collection services for people who have particular needs. This can include collecting and returning bins to a specific place.
12. People can report missed bin collections to councils. We expect councils to then put the problem right in a reasonable period of time.
13. If the problem they reported is not put right promptly, the person can complain to the council and, if not satisfied by its response they can complain to the Ombudsman. I have referred to these different types of action as ‘reports’ and ‘complaints’ respectively in this statement.

Reasonable adjustments

14. The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on councils to make reasonable adjustments for certain people. The duty aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a council service as closely as is reasonably possible to the standard usually offered to people without disability.

Council policy

15. The Council has an online form for people to report missed bins. Its main customer services centre also accepts reports of missed bin collections made by telephone.
16. If someone telephones the customer service centre and reports a missed bin and explains they cannot use the online form, the Council takes their details, including details of the problem over the phone. It then passes the report to its waste collection team for it to respond.
17. The Council’s complaint policy was revised following a previous Ombudsman decision (18002365). Complaints can now be made by email, in writing and in other formats. If the person needs to complain about a service by phone, the policy gives a telephone number to call, to ask for the Corporate Support Team who will take details and deal with the complaint.

What happened

Background from previous investigation

18. Mr X has had an assisted bin collection service with the council for several years. This requires collection crews to pick up and return his bins to a specific location.
19. In March 2019 the Ombudsman investigated a complaint from Mr X about problems with his assisted bin collection service. He complained the Council refused to take his complaints about this by phone. His sight impairment meant this was the only way he could make complaints.
20. We found fault in the Council’s complaint handling policy because it did not explain how to make complaints by phone. It agreed to apologise to Mr X and change its policy to explain how to complain about services by phone.

Events since then

21. Mr X says, since our final decision, the Council has not put his bins back in the agreed place. He says a new collection crew doesn’t seem to understand the requirement. He says he has reported the problem but the Council tells him it has no record of his reports. He said the Council told him he still had to put complaints in writing which he cannot do.
22. The Council says it has only one record from Mr X of a missed collection since our previous decision. This was a phone call in April 2019 made by Mr X to the Director of Communities. Mr X reported his bin had been placed back in a way that prevented him from entering his property. The Council responded to this.
23. Mr X’s Member of Parliament (MP) also raised concerns with the Council about the problem on Mr X’s behalf. It confirmed to the MP it had no other records of missed bins and had spoken to all collection crews to remind them that Mr X’s address was on the assistance list.
24. The Council has reminded collection crews several times during 2019 of the importance of collecting and returning bins as required by Mr X’s assisted service. It has asked supervisors to check on successful collection. Its collection crews have information showing Mr X requires an assisted collection service.
25. The Council has confirmed it still asks people to make complaints in writing but if necessary they can make complaints by telephone. It has provided evidence that when it dealt with another unrelated complaint from Mr X, it used large font and offered to read out letters and decisions to him over the phone.
26. I checked the Council’s practice in dealing with reports and complaints over the phone where someone has a need for reasonable adjustments by calling the customer contact number. I spoke to a customer service advisor who explained that if my bin had been missed, they would take the details over the phone, check them and pass my report on to the relevant service department to deal with.
27. I called a second time, asking how to make a complaint about a council service by phone. The corporate support team explained that if I could not complain online, they would take details of my complaint over the phone and deal with it.

My findings

28. The Council has changed its guidance to explain it can take reports of missed bin collections over the phone, as well as complaints, including complaints about missed bins. It has trained its customer service staff so they know what to do.
29. Mr X says the Council has ignored his reports and will not let him complain about his missed collections by phone. The Council only has one record of a reported missed bin since our last investigation which it dealt with appropriately.
30. From my direct contact with the Council’s customer service advisors and corporate support staff, I am satisfied, on balance, that staff know they can accept reports and complaints made over the phone and will deal with them accordingly. The Council has a procedure in place to allow this to happen which customer service staff appear to be following.
31. I therefore cannot explain why Mr X continues to have difficulty reporting missed bins. The Council has recorded his need for assisted collection. Its collection crews have appropriate information about this. It has reminded crews to make the assisted collections, including after our last investigation. It has responded to the report it has received since then. On the balance of probabilities, therefore, there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Final decision

32. I have completed my investigation as there is no evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman