Summary: Miss B complained the Council did not collect her waste or provide her assisted collection properly. The Council is at fault because it did not collect Miss B’s waste and did not provide her assisted collection service properly. This caused Miss B avoidable frustration and inconvenience. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Miss B £200 for her time and trouble, monitor her waste collections and review its assisted collection service.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains the Council has missed collecting her waste and recycling collections on multiple occasions, has regularly not placed her bins back in the right place as part of her assisted collection and has failed to rectify the problem following her complaint.
2. Miss B says she has been unable to access her bins as a result and recycling refuse has built up which has caused her additional problems with rats.

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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. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. 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

6. I considered the information Miss B provided and discussed the complaint with her. I have considered documents provided by the Council.
7. Miss B 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

8. The Council is legally obliged to collect Miss B’s household waste and recyclable waste (Environmental Protection Act 1990, sections 45(1) and 45A). The Council has a contractor, Norse, who deliver waste collection services on its behalf.
9. Miss B has complained about missed recycling collections dating back to April 2016. She has repeatedly reported missed collection dates and assisted collection problems to the Council. Miss B says she has had to pay someone to take away her waste.
10. Miss B complained to the Council in October 2019. The Council dealt with her complaint at stage one of its complaints procedure by speaking to her. It recorded that she was happy with the outcome. There is no record of the action that it took at the time.
11. Miss B complained to the Council again in March 2020 saying she was still having problems with the service. The Council responded at stage two of its complaints procedure saying it had spoken with the contractor to make sure the service was delivered properly and it would monitor her collections.
12. Miss B made a further complaint in July 2020 about the same problems.
13. Miss B has reported numerous incidences of missed collections and misplaced bins between March 2020 and October 2020.

Analysis

14. In early 2019 Miss B reported similar problems, which records from the Council show were addressed by the contractor updating the crew sheets containing information about assisted collections.
15. Records provided by the Council show it has monitored Miss B’s service from the beginning of September 2020.
16. The Council says it also monitored Miss B’s service for a period of time after her initial complaint in March 2020 and that its contractor also visited Miss B’s property on eight occasions. Miss B continued to report problems after these interventions.
17. Miss B repeatedly asked the Council to respond in writing to her complaint from July 2020. There is no evidence it has done this. The Council says the July complaint went straight to its contractor, so the Council was not aware of the details in it. Records provided by the Council show Miss B’s request for a written response were included in entries in its customer relationship management system.
18. The records of reports Miss B has made to the Council show that collections have been missed and bins have not been replaced correctly on numerous occasions between March 2020 and October 2020. This is fault by the Council. Although the Council has taken action by monitoring the service and involving its contractor and ultimately resolved the ongoing problems, Miss B experienced repeated service failure regarding her assisted collections.

Action the Council has taken

19. The Council has monitored Miss B’s service and involved its contractor to address the problems. Emails provided by the Council show that it has raised Miss B’s complaints again at a recent meeting with the contractor
20. Miss B asked the Council to take photographs of where the bins should be placed. The Council has recently done this and has provided them to the contractor. Monitoring records show this has now been successful in ensuring Miss B’s service is being delivered properly.

Agreed action

21. To remedy the injustice caused to Miss B, the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of this decision:

• Apologise to Miss B;
• Pay Miss B £200 for her time and trouble;
• Continue to monitor Miss B’s next ten waste collections to ensure they are completed and her bins are replaced correctly;
• Conduct a review of the information provided on crew sheets for assisted collections.

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Final decision

22. I have found fault by the Council causing injustice to Miss B. I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman