Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling when making scheduled collections from the rest of her street. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling 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 and recycling when making scheduled collections from the rest of her street.
2. Mrs X also complains the Council’s responses to her complaints have not addressed her concerns or resolved the problem.

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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. 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

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

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

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

9. Mrs X complains the Council regularly fails to empty her bins. She states her recycling collections are the worst affected, but the Council also fails to collect her household waste and garden waste. Mrs X complains the problem has continued for several years, despite her complaints, and only seems to affect her property. The Council routinely collects her neighbours’ waste and recycling while missing hers.
10. According to the Council’s records Mrs X reported 12 missed recycling collections and four missed household waste collections between February and December 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.
11. As an example, Mrs X reported a missed recycling collection on 19 June 2019, which the Council closed on 25 June 2019, the day after the next scheduled collection. But Mrs X reported the collection scheduled for 24 June 2019 missed, and the Council did not close this report until 9 July 2019. This was again the day after the next scheduled collection, which Mrs X also reported missed. The Council did not close the report of 8 July 2019 until 23 July 2019. If the Council had made the collections as its records suggest, it could have closed the reports of 24 June and 8 July 2019 the following days.
12. These inconsistencies are repeated in reports of missed recycling collections in September and October 2019.
13. The Council’s records show Mrs X reported fewer missed household waste collections, but also suggest the it missed other collections. For instance, Mrs X reported a missed household waste collection on 13 May 2019 which the Council closed on 28 May 2019. As the Council should make weekly household waste collections, this suggests it also missed the collection scheduled for 20 May 2019. If the Council had made this collection, it could have closed the report on that day.
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. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mrs X also made formal complaints about the failings in the service. In September 2019 she complained her recycling had not been collected as scheduled, nor had it been collected the following day as the Council had advised her it would be. She made a further complaint the following week as the recycling had still not been collected, and her garden waste had also been missed. The Council responded to each complaint separately.
16. In response to her initial complaint the Council apologised for the poor service. It confirmed it had passed the matter to the Service Manager who had spoken to the crew to remind them of her collection. Mrs X was not satisfied by this response as the Council had again failed to collect her recycling. Mrs X stated she was fed up of receiving the same responses to her complaints assuring her the Council was looking into the matter.
17. The Council reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and acknowledged her recycling collections had been poor over recent weeks. The Service Manager and Depot Managers would speak to the crew again to ensure Mrs X’s recycling was collected as scheduled.
18. The Council did not respond to Mrs X’s second complaint until early December 2019. It acknowledged its records showed Mrs X had reported issues with garden waste and recycling collections. It also recognised Mrs X may not have received a response and apologised. The Council advised it had now resolved all of the operational issues impacting on collections and that services had returned to normal.
19. As this did not resolve the problem and there were further missed collections, Mrs X asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Mrs X was frustrated that despite numerous complaints the Council had not explained why it missed her bins when collecting the waste and recycling from the rest of the street. Or why it had not resolved the problem.
20. In response to my enquiries the Council states the location of Mrs X’s property can mean there are problems with access from time to time. It arranged to monitor Mrs X’s household waste and recycling collections for three months. This should identify and resolve any problems with the collections.
21. In relation to Mrs X’s concerns about the response to her complaints the Council states it uses template responses to ensure consistency of approach and content. The templates are intended to address the current situation and are regularly reviewed and updated. The Council acknowledges its initial response did not refer to the access issues. However, it notes its review response offered appropriate apologies and confirmed the complaint had been escalated to the Service Manager.
22. The Council states it has issued guidance to the depots on managing complaints and responses. These notes are designed to improve the quality of its responses.

Analysis

23. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling. These failings in the service amounts to fault.
24. Given the inconsistencies in the Council’s records, I do not consider them to be a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when the Council actually collected the household waste and recycling. I consider it likely that there were more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest.
25. The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections by analysing their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses start to appear frequently. Its mobile technology (in cab device/mobile hand-held device) can also flag up repeat missed collections. Mrs X’s recurring reports should therefore have alerted the Council to a potential problem. This should in turn have prompted an investigation to identify and resolve the issue.
26. The Council suggests there are sometimes issues with access to Mrs X’s property. But it is unclear why this would have a greater impact on the recycling collections than the household waste collections. The bins would be presented in the same place, and the Council has often collected the household waste but not the recycling.
27. I recognise the Council is now monitoring Mrs X’s collections which should lead to an improvement in the service. But if the Council was aware of difficulties in accessing Mrs X’s bins, we would have expected it to try and find a solution much sooner.
28. It is disappointing that Mrs X states the Council failed to collect her household waste and garden waste on the first scheduled day of monitoring and missed three further household waste collections duriFng the monitoring period. Mrs X has confirmed the service has since improved.
29. 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.
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 and recycling left at her property. She has experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her complaints and reporting of problems the missed collections have continued. Mrs X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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 collect her household waste and recycling 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 household waste and recycling amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman