Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint that the Council missed three of her bin collections and failed to adhere to its missed collections procedure. This is because she has not suffered significant enough enduring injustice to justify the Ombudsman pursuing her complaint further.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs B, complained that the Council missed three of her bin collections and failed to adhere to its missed collections procedure. Mrs B told us her bins were left overflowing which would have attracted vermin.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information Mrs B provided and given her an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mrs B told us the Council should empty her bins once a fortnight. It has a system for people to report missed collections on-line. Mrs B told us the refuse collectors should then return within 48 hours to collect the rubbish but this did not happen.
5. In its response to Mrs B’s complaint the Council accepted its service did not meet normal standards and the situation was far from ideal. It explained the reasons for the service issues it had experienced and apologised to Mrs B. The Council told Mrs B it was working with its contractor to ensure it had adequate resources available to minimise disruption when breakdowns occur. The Council said when people report missed collections using its on-line procedure, these pass automatically to its contractor. In addition, the Council said the on-line reports allows it to build a history of collection issues, which it can raise in its contract management conversations with the contractor.
6. The Council told Mrs B she could escalate her complaint to the second stage of its complaint process if she remained dissatisfied.
7. Mrs B suffered injustice when the Council’s service failure meant her bins remained unemptied after three missed collections. But she has not suffered significant enough enduring injustice to justify the Ombudsman pursuing her complaint further.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs B has not suffered significant enough enduring injustice to justify the Ombudsman pursuing her complaint further.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman