Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to provide assisted collections for his household waste and recycling on the scheduled day or promptly when collections are missed. This has led to a build-up of waste which smells unpleasant and has attracted vermin and flies. The Council’s repeated failure to provide Mr X with the agreed assisted collection service for over a year amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains that although he should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste and recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed. This has led to a build-up of waste which smells unpleasant and has attracted vermin and flies.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; and
• Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

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 cannot 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 resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.

What happened here

9. Mr X lives in a small close where residents present their bins for collection on a neighbouring street. Mr X states he advised the Council in December 2018 that he was going to have major surgery and would be unable to move his bin. The Council agreed to provide assisted collections. Mr X complains there have been problems with the assisted collection service from the outset. He states the Council has not collected his household waste since December 2018 and only began collecting his recycling in June 2019. This has led to a huge a build-up of waste which attracts flies and vermin and has caused him difficulties with his neighbours and his landlord.
10. According to the Council’s records, Mr X reported 12 missed household waste collections and five missed recycling collections between February and July 2019. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council made the collections in a timely manner. The records also suggest the Council also missed other collections.
11. As an example, Mr X reported three consecutive missed household waste collections between 29 March and 12 April 2019. The Council closed the first two reports on 1 May 2019 but did not close the third until 20 May 2019. Mr X also reported a missed collection on 25 April 2019 which the Council closed on 20 May 2019. It is unclear why, if the Council collected the waste on 1 May 2019, it did not close all four reports that day.
12. The records suggest there were further missed household waste collections not included in the Council’s records.
13. There are similar anomalies in the reports of missed recycling collections. Mr X reported missed collections on 20 February, 7 and 29 March, and 12 April 2019. The Council closed these reports on 1 April, 8 April, 1 May and 20 May 2019 respectively. Had the Council made a collection on either 1 or 8 April 2019, as the records suggest, it could have closed the first three reports on that day. Similarly, if the Council made a collection on 1 May 2019 it could have closed the report of 12 April much sooner.
14. The Council states there may be a delay between when it goes out to collect a missed collection and when it closes the report, so it is not necessarily the case that it also missed the intervening collections. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates it made the missed collections where they are different to the date the report was closed.
15. Mr X disputes the accuracy of the Council’s records and maintains the Council did not collect his waste or recycling at all.
16. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also made a formal complaint about failings in the assisted collection service. In early June 2019 Mr X complained there had been problems with his household waste and recycling collections since the beginning of the year which had not been resolved. He considered the accumulated waste was becoming a health issue and asked the Council to ensure he received assisted collections.
17. The Council apologised for the inconvenience caused by the missed collections. It had alerted a manager who would speak to the crews and remind them to provide assisted collections.
18. Mr X states the Council then began to collect his recycling but still did not collect his household waste. He asked the Council to review his complaint. In its response the Council stated it has escalated the matter to the service manager so that they could ensure Mr X received assisted collections as scheduled from then on.
19. As this did not resolve the problem Mr X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In September 2019, he reported that the Council was still not collecting his household waste. His bin was still full, and his garden was full of bin bags. This smelt unpleasant and had attracted files and vermin.
20. In response to my enquiries the Council states it runs an assisted collection report at the start of each month with an updated list of all assisted collections. It then manually adds properties 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 Mr X has assisted collection status.
21. The Council has noted that Mr X last reported a missed household waste collection in July 2019, and a missed recycling collection in June 2019. It suggests this means Mr X’s assisted collections are now back on track.
22. Mr X disputes this. He states the Council has not collected his household waste since December 2018, and the waste is piled up in his garden. Mr X states he stopped reporting missed collections as it did not achieve anything. Despite assurances it would, the Council still did not collect his household waste.
23. The Council has arranged to monitor Mr X’s collections for three months so that it can identify and resolve any ongoing issues.

Analysis

24. The Council’s records show there have been repeated failings in the assisted collection service it has provided Mr X.
25. The Council accepts it has missed collections, and that there will have been delays in making these missed collections. Its records of Mr X’s reported missed collections, when it subsequently made the collections, and then closed the reports are incomplete and inconsistent.
26. Given the inconsistencies and Mr X’s reports that the waste has not been collected all year, I do not consider the Council’s records to be a reliable indicator of the extent of the problem. It is also concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when the waste had not been collected.
27. The Council has not offered an explanation of the missed collections. It has confirmed Mr X is registered for assisted collections and this should be recorded on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and in the crew packs. It is therefore unclear why Mr X’s bins are routinely missed.
28. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr 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.
29. I recognise the Council is now monitoring Mr X’s collections and would expect this to lead to an improvement in the service.
30. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. Mr X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste and recycling left at his property. He has had to endure unpleasant smells and problems of flies and vermin. The accumulated waste and associated problems have also led to difficulties with his neighbours and his landlord. Mr X has had to rely on a friend to help him dispose of some of the bags in his garden, but he is unable to move the remaining bags.
31. Mr X has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. He has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

32. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £400 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.
33. The Council has also agreed to attend Mr X’s property to remove the build-up of uncollected waste from his garden.
34. The Council should carry out these actions within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

35. The Council’s repeated failure to provide Mr X with the agreed assisted collection service for over a year amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman