Summary: Mrs X complains that although she should receive assisted collections, the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled day. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s refuse sacks amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled day. Mrs X receives assisted collections and complains that although her neighbours’ waste is collected, her is repeatedly missed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

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

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

5. 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.
6. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
7. 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.
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.

What happened here

9. Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her refuse sacks on the scheduled day. Although Mrs X should receive assisted collections, she carries the refuse sacks down the steps from her property to be collected. When the sacks are not collected, she then has to move them back up the steps to her property. Mrs X states there are no issues with her recycling collections, this crew routinely takes the recycling on the scheduled day. But the refuse collection crew regularly fail to collect her refuse sacks while taking her neighbours’ waste. Mrs X is concerned that she is being singled out by the refuse collection crew.
10. The Council’s records show Mrs X has reported seven missed refuse collections in the last 12 months. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the collections were all made in a timely manner. The records also suggest that other collections were also missed.
11. For example, Mrs X reported a missed collection on 20 May 2019 and the Council closed this report on 4 June 2019. This would suggest that the collection scheduled for 27 May 2019 was also missed. If the Council had made this scheduled collection, it could have closed the report that day.
12. There are also other anomalies in the Council’s records. Mrs X reported missed collections on 16 and 23 September, and 2 October 2019 and the Council closed these reports on 1, 9 and 16 October 2019 respectively. This is curious, as had the Council collected the missed sacks on 1 October 2019, it could have closed both reports of missed collections in September 2019 that day. Similarly, if the Council had collected the missed sacks on 9 October, it could also have closed the missed report from 2 October 2019 on that day.
13. The Council states there may be a delay between the missed collections being made and the report being closed, so it is not necessarily the case that the intervening collections were also missed. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates the missed collections were made where they are different to the date the report was closed.
14. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mrs X also complained to the Council about the failings in the service. In May 2019 Mrs X complained the collection crew had again not taken all of her refuse sacks. She could see no reason why they had left one bag. The Council apologised for the poor service and confirmed the service manager had spoken to the crew and reminded them of Mrs X’s collection.
15. Mrs X complained again in July 2019 that for two consecutive weeks the collection crew had not taken all of her refuse sacks but had inexplicably left one each week. Mrs X complained she had been repeatedly told this would not happen, but it continued to. She asked the Council to look into the problem. In its response the Council suggested a possible solution would be to provide her with bins, in line with the rest of her street. This was on the proviso that Mrs X present the bins at the bottom of her steps on each collection day.
16. Mrs X responded to advise this was not a solution as the Council had previously decided they could not have bins due to the steps to their property. Mrs X questioned why they were being singled out by the collection crew and reiterated there was never a problem with the recycling collections. The Council advised Mrs X the suggestion to move to bins was made in good faith and that the complaints process was now complete.
17. As the problem persisted Mrs X complained again in August 2019. The Council had not collected the three refuse sacks she had left out but had taken all of her neighbour’s refuse sacks. The Council advised Mrs X her complaint was closed and although it had passed her email to the service manager, it could not investigate the issue further.
18. Mrs X made further complaints about missed collections in September 2019, which the Council acknowledged. Mrs X also asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. She complained that although they should receive assisted collections, she had to carry the refuse sacks down the steps from her property to the roadside. When the Council did not collect the sacks, she then had to carry them back up to her property. Mrs X was concerned they were being singled out and that the Council had not resolved the issue.
19. In response to my enquiries the Council states collection crews are aware of the assisted collections on their routes. The Council 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.
20. It has also confirmed that residents who are eligible for an assisted collection are entitled to receive a household bin/sack and recycling bin/box collection from the agreed storage point which, in the majority of cases, will be by the resident’s front door. Residents who are registered for assisted collection are not required to take their household waste bins/sacks or recycling bins/boxes to the roadside.
21. The Council has set up a period of monitoring to identify and rectify any repeated failures to collect Mrs X’s refuse sacks.

Analysis

22. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
23. The Council accepts that collections have been missed, and that there will have been delays in these missed collections being made. Its records of Mrs X’s reported missed collections, when the collections were subsequently made, and the reports closed are incomplete and inconsistent. And it is concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when the waste had not been collected.
24. 1, 9 and 16 October 2019 are not scheduled collection days and Mrs X returns the missed bags to her property rather than leave then on the street when they are missed. It is therefore unclear how the Council would have been able to collect the missed waste on these days.
25. Based on the information available I consider it likely that there were more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest
26. It is also unclear why, if details of assisted collections appear on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and are added to the crew packs, Mrs X’s household waste was missed when the rest of the street was collected. The collection crew should be collecting Mrs X’s refuse sacks from her front door, but even when she presents the sacks at the roadside they are still missed.
27. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mrs X’s complaints. Despite the Council’s assurances it had reminded the crew members and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
28. The Council’s suggestion that Mrs X move to bins collections, and that she would be responsible for presenting the bins at the bottom of the steps was inappropriate. The Council was aware Mrs X has assisted collection status and as such would not be expected to move either refuse sacks or bins to the roadside. It should also have been aware her property is not suitable for bins because of the steps to her property. This proposal suggests the Council had not properly considered Mrs X’s complaint.
29. I recognise the Council has now monitored Mrs X’s collections and that this should also lead to an improvement in the service.
30. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste left at her property. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mrs X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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Agreed action

31. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste collections has caused.
32. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

33. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s refuse sacks amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman