Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty her bins and when it does, it routinely fails to return the bins to her property. The Council’s repeated failings in the assisted collection service it provided to Mrs X amount to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complains that although she should receive assisted collections, the Council has repeatedly failed to return her bin to the storage point after collection. Mrs X complains that on other occasions the Council has emptied her neighbours’ bins but left her uncollected.

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

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 are unable to 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. Mrs X complains there have been problems with the assisted collection service she receives for a couple of years. She states the main issue is that the collection crews do not return her household waste bin to the storage point after emptying it. Mrs X complains the crews leave her bins blocking her pathway or causing an obstruction for her neighbours.
10. Mrs X also complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect and empty her bins. The collections crews have emptied her neighbours’ bins but have missed hers. Mrs X states the problems with the missed collections and the bins not being returned has led to difficulties with her neighbours.
11. The Council has a facility to report missed collections, but not to report other problems with the collection service, such as bins not being returned. This can only be done by raising a complaint.
12. Mrs X made a formal complaint in August 2019. She complained the collection crews take her bins from the front of her property, but do not return the household waste bin. The crews return the recycling bin but leave the household waste bin on the pavement or halfway down the path. Mrs X told the Council she had visited the depot many times and had been told the crews would be spoken to. But the problem had still not been resolved.
13. Although the Council acknowledged Mrs X’s complaint and said it would respond within 15 working days, it did not respond until December 2019, 15 weeks later. The Council apologised for not responding. It confirmed the manager was aware of the problem and would speak to the crews to ensure the bins were always returned.
14. As this did not resolve the problem, and the crews still did not return her bin, Mrs X asked the Council to review her complaint. The Council apologised the issue was still unresolved and confirmed the service manager would remind the crews of their responsibilities. The Council would also monitor Mrs X’s collections for three months to verify the crews followed these fresh instructions.
15. Mrs X now has an area marked off in front of her property to house the bins and states the service has improved.
16. 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 Mrs X has assisted collection status.
17. The Council states there is no evidence of a repeat failure to collect and return Mrs X’s bins. It states the monitoring was largely successful, with only one missed collection recorded during the 13 weeks. As Mrs X has not reported any further missed collections it considers the issue is now resolved.

Analysis

18. The Council has confirmed Mrs X is registered for assisted collections, so the crews should collect and return her bins to the agreed point. Mrs X’s complaint suggest this has not routinely happened.
19. It is unclear exactly how many times the crews failed to return Mrs X’s bin, or for how long this had been a problem as there is no system for reporting this issue. The Council states there is no evidence of a repeat failure to collect and return Mrs X’s bin. But its responses to her complaints apologise that her bin is not returned, rather than dispute there is a problem. The Council also arranged to monitor Mrs X’s collections for several months which suggests it accepted there had been failings in the service. The failings in the assisted collection service the Council has provided to Mr X amount to fault.
20. I note the assisted collection service improved with the introduction of a marked storage area and a period of monitoring.
21. I also consider the Council’s delay in responding to Mrs X’s complaint to be fault. It is unclear why the Council took five times longer than it said it would to respond to Mrs X’s complaint. But this is clearly not acceptable and meant the problems with Mrs X’s assisted collection service continued for longer.
22. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mrs X a significant injustice. Mrs X is unable to move the bin so could not return it to the front of her property herself, this led to difficulties with her neighbours. She has experienced frustration and disappointment that despite assurances the problem would be resolved her bin was still not returned. Mrs X has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

Agreed action

23. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to return her bin to her property as part of the assisted collection service has caused.
24. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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final decision

25. The Council’s repeated failings in the assisted collection service it provided to Mrs X amount to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman