Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council re-organised its garden waste collection due to Covid-19. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council has only extended the subscription period to cover three garden waste collections when he had four missed collections. He wants the Council to extend his subscription period and pay compensation.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered information on the Council’s website and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft decision.

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What I found

Garden waste service

4. The subscription year usually runs for 12 months from 1 April. The cost of the service for 2020/21 is £55.50. People can sign up at any time but the subscription period ends on 31 March regardless of when the person applied. The Council endeavours to collect the waste every two weeks. The Council may suspend the service during bad weather.

Assessment

5. Mr X used the garden waste service last year and renewed it for 2020/21.
6. Due to Covid-19 the Council did not collect the waste due to be collected on 26 March. It then moved the start date for new subscriptions to 11 May 2020. The subscription period will end on 10 May 2021.
7. Mr X says he missed four collections but the change to the subscription period only covers three of these collections.
8. In response to his complaint the Council explained that it suspended the service due on 26 March. It then decided to change the start date for 2020/21 as this would be fairer to people. It said that the change in the service provision mitigates the need to reimburse people.
9. Mr X remains of the view that he is missing one collection. He has referred to non-statutory Covid-19 guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) which says councils may need to reimburse customers for any break in service. It also says councils may need to review the frequency of the service and consider suspending the service.
10. Mr X also says he did not get a collection until 25 May so his subscription period should start from 26 May. Mr X says the Council should pay him compensation for the stress, protracted correspondence and general inconvenience.

Assessment

11. I will not start an investigation for the following reasons.
12. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council decided to reorganise the garden waste service in the context of Covid-19 and lockdown. Instead of allowing a suspended service to continue, which would have happened during the subscription period, it moved the start date so people did not lose out financially. I appreciate people still had no waste collections, which may have been inconvenient, but the Council made a decision based on the situation it found itself in and one that reflects the Defra guidance. In addition, the guidance does not say councils must offer a refund.
13. I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. Mr X says he missed four collections. Each collection equates to £2.22 and this, even when combined with the inconvenience of the waste not being collected, does not represent enough injustice to warrant an investigation or compensation. And, even though Mr X would like his subscription to start from 26 May and says the Council is considering moving to individual start dates, this is not the current system. And, again, this does not represent sufficient injustice to require an investigation.

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Final decision

14. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman