Summary: Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed for over a year. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s recycling as scheduled for an extended period 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 has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed for over a year. Miss X states the problem affects the whole street.

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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 information provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Miss X;
• Miss 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

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. In September 2018 the Council introduced a new operating model. Under this model, scheduled collection days remained the same, but the collection rounds/routes changed.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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

11. Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed for over a year. Collections are sporadic and can be months apart, so Miss X has had to dispose of the accumulated recycling herself. She states the problem affects the whole street.
12. The Council’s records show Miss X has reported six missed collections since October 2018. Her neighbours also reported several missed collections over the same period. 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.
13. Miss X reported a missed collections scheduled for 5 April 2019, which the Council closed on 7 May 2019. This suggests it also missed collections scheduled for 19 April and 3 May 2019. If the Council had made these collections it could have closed the reports sooner.
14. Miss X also reported the collection due on 3 May 2019 as missed and the Council closed the report on the 30 May 2019. This suggests it missed further collections and is curious as if the Council had made a collection on 7 May, as its records suggest, it could have closed the report that day.
15. 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.
16. As well as reporting missed collections, Miss X also made a formal complaint about the service. In December 2018 Miss X complained the Council had not collected her recycling on the scheduled day for two months. Following a complaint to her local Councillor, the Council collected the missed recycling, but had then failed to make any scheduled collections.
17. In response the Council advised it had launched a new operating model in September 2018. It acknowledged the change in routes would take time to bed in and had resulted in a number of missed collections and delays in clearing missed waste. The Council confirmed it had passed Miss X’s complaint to the service manager who had spoken to the crew.
18. Miss X was disappointed by the Council’s response, which she said had been cut and pasted from the Council’s website. Miss X wanted an explanation for why the Council had not collected the recycling from her street for over 12 weeks. She was concerned that as there was now industrial action the Council would miss more collections.
19. The Council advised it had put in place a plan to minimise disruption during the industrial action. Miss X contacted the Council again as it had not collected her recycling again. She noted the Council had only collected the recycling once in the last 14 or 16 weeks. The Council confirmed it had notified the manager who would investigate why the Council had not collected the recycling from her street for so long.
20. In April 2019 Miss X contacted the Council to complain it had not collected her recycling since the end of the industrial action. The Council had collected the recycling twice during the industrial action, which meant Miss X had had three collections since September 2018. Miss X asked the Council to explain why it routinely missed her street and how it would resolve the problem. The Council did not respond, so in May 2019 Miss X asked the Council to escalate her original complaint. At that time, she stated the Council had collected her recycling four times since September 2018.
21. The Council responded and explained it had spoken with the depot manager and asked for recycling collections to Miss X’s street to return to their fortnightly schedule. It would also remind the crew to ensure this was given priority.
22. Miss X reported further missed collections and it September 2019 asked to resubmit her complaint. She stated she did not have time to continually report missed collections, particularly as it made no difference. Miss X stated the Council had not collected the recycling for two months and asked for an explanation of the poor service since September 2018.
23. The Council’s response apologised for the reduced level of service in recent months. It explained the Council had faced challenging circumstances since January 2019 which had resulted in missed collections. It had stabilised the service but there were ongoing operational difficulties which it was working to resolve.
24. As Miss X was not satisfied by the Council’s response, she asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Miss X states the collection crew drive down her street to get to the next street, but do not stop. Recycling collections from her street are still sporadic. Miss X states she spends time every week taking her recycling to a recycling centre or putting it in friends’ bins.
25. In response to my enquiries the Council states the missed collections on Miss X’s street are due to factors such as the introduction of a new working model in September 2018, industrial action from January to April 2019 and operational issues such as staffing levels.
26. It has arranged to monitor Miss X’s recycling collections for three months. This should identify and problems with the service.
27. In relation to Miss 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 states its responses to Miss X used the appropriate templates.
28. 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

29. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Miss recycling over a sustained period. These failings in the service amounts to fault.
30. Although the Council’s records show Miss X has only reported six missed collections since October 2018, I consider it likely the Council missed many more collections. 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 recycling.
31. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Miss 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.
32. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. Miss X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected recycling left at her property and arrange to dispose of it herself. She has experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her complaints and reporting of problems the missed collections have continued. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

33. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular recycling collections has caused.
34. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

35. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s recycling as scheduled for over a year amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman