Summary: Miss X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from her group of flats on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed between December 2018 and August 2019. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from the bin serving Miss X's block of flat amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from her group of flats on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed between December 2018 and August 2019. This led to an accumulation of waste which attracted rats. Miss X complains the rat infestation damaged her vehicle.

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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 Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; 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

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. At the end of December 2018 collection crews began industrial action. The Council introduced a contingency plan to make one collection for all waste types each week rather than separate collections of household waste and recycling. The crews began working to rule on 29 December 2018 and the first full day of industrial action was 19 February 2019.
8. The Council moved to a fortnightly collection for all waste types in February 2019. When the industrial action ended in mid-March 2019, the Council returned to weekly household and fortnightly recycling collections.
9. 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

10. Miss X complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from the communal bins serving her block of flats. She states collections have been sporadic with often several weeks between collections. This has led to an accumulation of waste which has attracted rats to the parking area where the bins are stored.
11. Miss X states the rats have caused damage to her vehicle. She has sought to make an insurance claim against the Council for the cost of repairs.
12. The Council’s records show Miss X and her neighbours reported six missed household waste collections and four missed recycling collections in 2019. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed suggest the collections were not made in a timely manner and that other collections were also missed.
13. For example, Miss X reported a missed collection on 28 February 2019 and the Council closed the report on 22 March 2019. As the Council was making fortnightly collections at this time, this suggests the scheduled collection on 13 March 2019 was also missed. If the Council had made the collection, it could have closed the report on that day.
14. Similarly, Miss X reported a missed collection on 24 June 2019, which the Council closed on six weeks later on 6 August 2019. The Council had returned to weekly collections by this stage, so this again suggests that several other scheduled collections were also missed. Had they been made, the Council could have closed the report sooner.
15. 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.
16. As reporting missed collections did not resolve the problem, Miss X contacted her local Councillor in late January 2019. She asked them to assist as the Council had not collected the household waste for a month, or the recycling for around six months. Miss X said this had caused a rat infestation and had led to a huge amount of fly tipping. The Councillor contacted the Council and Miss X’s bins were emptied on 5 February 2019.
17. Miss X contacted the Councillor again and made a formal complaint to the Council in March 2019. Miss X complained that the bins had not been emptied again since 5 February 2019. She provided details of her contact with the Council since September 2018 to report problems with missed collections and rats.
18. As Miss X was pursuing an insurance claim against the Council for damage caused by rats, the Council did not respond under its complaints procedure. It asked its legal team to respond. The legal department advised Miss X it would respond to the sections of her complaint which relate to her insurance claim, and the remaining issues would be dealt with via the complaints procedure. The complaints team did not contact Miss X in relation to these outstanding issues.
19. Miss X made a further complaint in July 2019. She complained the Council had not collected the household waste for eight weeks. She asked the Council to collect the accumulated waste as soon as possible and to ensure they had regular collection in the future. The Council did not respond to this complaint.
20. Although the service has now improved, Miss X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. She states the Council only collected the communal waste three times over a period of seven months and maintains this led to a rat infestation and damage to her vehicle.
21. In response to my enquiries the Council states it has set up monitoring of the communal waste collections to identify and resolve any issues. It states the large communal waste containers were replaced with smaller bins in the summer of 2019 due to inappropriate use by local businesses.
22. The Council acknowledges it did not respond to Miss X’s complaint in July 2019 and apologises for this. It has reminded staff of the correct process for handling complaints.
23. In addition, the Council states it cannot comment on a rat infestation or the damage to Miss X’s vehicle as it has not received any requests for rat treatment in the communal bin area.

Analysis

24. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
25. The Council’s records confirm that collections have been missed, and that there were delays in these missed collections being made. However, I do not consider the Council’s records reflect the full extent of the problem. I consider it likely that there were many more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest.
26. I understand there has been an improvement in the service, and that the Council is monitoring the collections which should identify and resolve any ongoing issues.
27. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Miss X’s complaints. I recognise that as Miss X had made an insurance claim, it was necessary to consult with the legal department in relation to her initial complaint. But as the legal department only addressed part of the complaint the Council should have responded to the outstanding issues under its complaints process.
28. The Council has acknowledged it did not respond to Miss X’s complaint in July 2019, which is clearly fault.
29. It is disappointing that in response to my enquiries the Council states it has not received any requests for rat treatment in the communal bin area. It is clear from the documentation and acknowledged in the Council’s response to Miss X’s insurance claim that Miss X reported a rat problem in January 2019.
30. The legal department accepted the report was incorrectly handled and not passed through to pest control. Its response to the insurance claim also refers to a visit by pest control on 7 February 2019.
31. The Council’s failure to refer to this in its response to the Ombudsman suggests its record keeping and/or inter-department communication is inadequate.
32. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. Miss X has had to endure the smell and mess of the uncollected waste, and the problem of rodents this has attracted. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to respond to her complaints or resolve the problem. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
33. Miss X also complains of damage to her vehicle by the rats attracted to the waste. She has pursued an insurance claim which the Council has disputed. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to adjudicate on legal claims. Such issues fall within the remit of the Courts and are therefore outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. If Miss X is unable to resolve this issue with the Council directly, Miss X may wish to take legal advice on her options.

Agreed action

34. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular communal waste collections has caused.
35. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

36. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from the bin serving Miss X's block of flat amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman