Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about missed refuse collections. This is because the level of injustice suffered by the complainant does not warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms E, is making a complaint about the Council garden waste service she is subscribed to. She says that on three separate occasions her bins were not collected due to a payment error by the Council.
2. By means of redress, Ms E wants a payment of £50 to cover the distress, inconvenience and out of pocket expenses caused by the Council.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify the cost of our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have reviewed Ms E’s complaint to the Ombudsman and Council. I have also had regard to the response of the Council and further information from Ms E on how this has affected her. Ms E also received an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. In February 2020, Ms E subscribed to the Council garden waste service and paid £45 for the year which was taken by Direct Debit. Since subscribing, Ms E says the Council failed to collect her garden waste on three separate occasions. On each occasion, Ms E complained to the Council which incorrectly determined she had not made payment when she had. Further, Ms E says she was not sent a bin sticker for her garden waste which works to advise waste operators that payment has been made and enables collection.
6. In July 2020, the Council issued a formal response. It acknowledged and apologised to Ms E for not collecting her garden waste bin on three separate occasions and said this was due to a system error showing Ms E had not paid for the garden waste subscription when she had. However, it said that on each occasion missed, the Council had rescheduled and made a collection on a later date. It felt on this basis that Ms E had not missed any number of collections and that she was not therefore due a refund of her subscription payment. The Council also undertook to send her a sticker for the garden waste bin by first class delivery and apologised for delays it said was due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Assessment

7. In each case, I must assess whether there was fault by the Council and whether this has caused a significant and personal injustice. This means I must determine whether Ms E has suffered serious loss, harm or distress. In my view, the Council were evidently at fault in incorrectly determining Ms E had not made payment for the garden waste service and for missing agreed collections. Further, I accept that Ms E has been inconvenienced and the Council have rightly apologised for its failings in this regard. However, the Council did on each occasion rearrange collection for a later date and I do not consider that Ms E’s inconvenience constitutes serious financial loss, harm or distress. For this reason, I do not believe an investigation is warranted.

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Final decision

8. I will not investigate this complaint because I do not believe the level of injustice suffered by the complainant warrants an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman