Summary: The complainant says the Council has failed to resolve failings in its waste collection service within a reasonable time or following interventions by the Council causing inconvenience and distress. The Council accepts failings and is working on an action plan to drive improvements. The Ombudsman finds the Council acted with fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council failed to properly manage waste collections from Mr X’s home for over a year. Mr X says this led to waste collection crews often missing his bin collection and leaving the bins open and in the wrong place.
2. Mr X wants the Council to address the frequent inconvenience he has experienced. Mr X wants the Council to supervise and monitor the service to ensure it regularly and consistently collects his bins and returns them to their proper place.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated the issues in the complaint concerned the Council’s function as the waste collection authority. Complaints about maintenance of the communal area in which residents store bulky waste and waste bins lie outside my jurisdiction.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. If 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. In considering this complaint I have:
• Spoken with Mr X and reviewed all the information presented with his complaint;
• Put enquiries to the Council and read its responses and viewed photographs;
• Researched the relevant law, guidance, and policy.
• Shared with Mr X and the Council my draft decision giving them an opportunity to comment on what I have said. I have considered any comments received.

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What I found

7. Mr X’s home is served by a communal waste bin storage area from which the Council collects domestic and bulky waste. Mr X says the waste collection teams have failed to properly remove and empty bins, restore them to their correct positions and ensure they collect any spillages or debris resulting from the collection.
8. In January 2019 Mr X complained about the frequent missed bin collections and the service provided. The Council explained in response the waste team had experienced problems over the Christmas holiday. The Council said it had reminded crews they needed to ensure they emptied the bins and replaced them correctly, not skim them. The Council said it had told crews to remove any spillages or debris left on the floor of the waste bin area.
9. In February 2019 Mr X asked the Council to consider his complaint further at Stage 2 of its complaints’ procedure. The Council did not immediately do this but deferred consideration to allow crews to carry out the instructions given them recently to improve the service. Officers monitored collections for four weeks, taking photographs following inspections of the waste bin area. In April 2019 Mr X sent photographs showing the bin store area. The Council moved Mr X’s complaint to stage 2 of its procedure in May 2019. Officers inspected the site and studied the checklists in June 2019.
10. In September 2019, the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint and said it had an action plan in place to monitor the waste crew’s performance for six weeks. Then the Council asked officers to continue to inspect the area and compile a report of their findings for a further two months. The Council says due to non-compliance with the action plan between October 2019 and February 2020 it did not have reliable records of the condition of the waste store.
11. Mr X complained again to the Council saying crews continued to skim bins, left them in the wrong place with lids open. Mr X said often the bins had water in them and the crews left waste on the floor which they had spilt during collection. This created a risk of vermin infestation Mr X says and made it difficult to use the waste bin store. The Council invited Mr X to present photographs. He did and these showed debris on the floor. The Council told Mr X it would meet with the housing staff responsible for maintaining the area as well as following up with the issue up with the waste collection service.
12. The Council asked housing officers to write to residents in April 2020 reminding them of their duties under their tenancies. The Council intended the letters to remind residents to leave waste for collection in the bins assigned and, on the shelf, provided for bulky items.
13. In its response to my enquiries the Council says it recognises systemic failings in service liaison and in addressing the waste contamination around the bin store. The Council drew up an action plan to improve the service and its supervision including researching the reasons officers did not follow up on missed collections. The Council says residents may be responsible for some of the waste discarded improperly in the area. However, it says its lack of supervision of waste collection crews meant it did not know the extent to which they contributed to improperly stored waste.
14. The Council says it could have done more in 2019 and 2020 to decide if the waste collection crews had legitimate reasons for not returning the bins to their proper place. The Council did not ensure it completed monitoring programmes and so it has not gathered the evidence it needs to tackle the reasons for leaving discarded waste in the waste bin area. From March 2020 the Council says it has faced difficulties arising from the limits resulting from Covid-19.
15. Mr X says this has led him to endure missed domestic waste collecting, difficulties when using the waste bin area and his bins returned to their wrong position. All this has caused inconvenience and Mr X says it has gone on too long.
16. To address the problems experienced the Council began renewed monitoring in September 2020. Staff did not comply with the action plan or properly complete the monitoring sheets provided by the Council. This has left the information gathered since September 2020 less helpful and clear than the Council had hoped. However, from the information the Council has gathered it says there is no evidence of waste collection crews missing scheduled collections. The Council has started a detailed review which may include repositioning the waste bin area or repositioning bulky waste collection point.

Analysis – was there fault leading to injustice

17. My role is to decide if the Council followed proper procedures and carried out actions it had promised to complete without fault. If I find there has been fault, I must consider what impact that had on Mr X and what the Council should do to put that right.
18. The Council recognised its waste collection service had not delivered the service to Mr X that it should. Since spring 2019 the Council has carried out several monitoring programmes to identify the cause of the missed bin collections and conditions in the waste bin store area. Council staff failed to properly complete that monitoring by the Council’s own admission delaying any improvements to the service it had hoped to achieve. I find the Council at fault for the poor standard of service and the poor compliance with the supervision envisaged in the action plan. I welcome the Council’s commitment to agreeing a plan for improvements with all the stakeholder departments and to liaise with Mr X.
19. The failings in the waste collection service and in the monitoring and compliance with the action plan means Mr X has endured a poor service for longer than he may otherwise have experienced. It also means he has been put to further time and inconvenience providing photographic evidence and descriptions of the problems he experienced. I must consider what the Council should do in recognition of that, while also recognising it is developing an action plan aimed at improving the service Mr X and other residents receive.
20. The decision to defer responding to Mr X’s stage 2 complaint shows the Council wanted to provide him with explanations and show improvements. That did not work out. The Council should have placed a short deadline on any extension of the complaints’ procedure, explained it to Mr X and asked for his consent before deferring a response. I find the Council acted with fault in the delay to the Stage 2 response.

Recommended and agreed action

21. To address the inconvenience and stress caused to Mr X by the faults identified in this statement I recommend, and the Council agrees to within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise in writing to Mr X and sets out the plans it has for involving him in its action plan to monitor and improve the service;
• Pay Mr X £500 in recognition of the inconvenience and distress caused;
• Set out a review plan showing by what dates the Council will review progress in improvements set out in the action plan. This should be subject to monthly reviews for no less than four months;
• Share with the Cabinet Member for Waste Collection Services the decision on this complaint and the action and review plans. This will allow the Cabinet Member to review progress and consider if the Council needs to take further action or a refer the issues to the relevant committee for scrutiny.

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Final decision

22. In completing my investigation, I find the Council acted with fault causing an injustice.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

23. Concerns about how often the Council cleans and maintains the waste collection area fall under the Council’s responsibilities as a social landlord. Therefore, complaints arising from that service lie in the jurisdiction of the Housing Ombudsman and I have not considered those issues.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman