Summary: Mr X complained the Council had failed to regularly collect recycling from his block of flats over the last 3 years. We found the Council was at fault for failing to ensure regular recycling collections from Mr X’s block of flats and in how it dealt with his complaints. This caused Mr X the inconvenience of making alternative arrangements to dispose of his own recycling and avoidable time and trouble pursuing his complaints. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, monitor ongoing collections and remind staff about the need to investigate complaints thoroughly.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council had failed to regularly collect recycling from his block of flats over the last 3 years. He says the Council had only collected the recycling 2-3 times a year. As a result, Mr X had to dispose of the recycling himself, including making trips to the Council’s recycling centres resulting in added costs and inconvenience. He also said the Council had not responded to previous complaints he made and took too long to respond to his latest complaint.

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What I have investigated

2. I investigated matters from May 2019. The final section of this statement contains my reason for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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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. 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)
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. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read the information Mr X submitted and discussed his complaint with him.
7. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and the supporting documents it provided.
8. I also considered the relevant law and Council policies.
9. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. The Council sent me its comments which I considered before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background

10. Mr X lives in a block of six flats which share a communal bin store. He moved there in February 2016.
11. He said the Council had not collected the cardboard recycling from the block of flats more than two or three times each year since he moved in.
12. Mr X said he reported missed collections several times since moving in. Although the recycling was removed when he reported an issue, he says the Council have never regularly collected the cardboard recycling.
13. The Council has set up and is the sole owner of the Bristol Waste Company (BWC). It carries out refuse collections and other similar environmental services on the Council’s behalf.

Household waste and recycling collections

14. Councils have a duty 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. (Environmental Protection Act 1990, sections 45(1) and 45A, as amended)
15. The Council’s policy is to collect household recycling every week.
16. The Council’s website says where it misses a collection, members of the public should wait until after 5pm to report it to them. They have until 5pm the next working day to do so.
17. In our focus report Lifting the lid on bin complaints: learning to improve waste and recycling services we reminded councils they should:
• ensure a reliable and effective service.
• provide considered responses when handling complaints – rather than stock responses.
• ensure clear procedures are in place with any contractors to deal with complaints, making it clear the council keeps oversight of any issues.

What happened

18. Mr X complained to the Council in early November 2019. He told the Council cardboard recycling had not been collected for the past three years and plastic recycling was not collected regularly. He said he wanted the Council to regularly collect the recycling and refund part of his council tax.
19. The Council passed the complaint to BWC who arranged collection of the recycling. It also told Mr X the recycling supervisor had “spoken with the collection crews to ensure collections”. It apologised for the poor service but declined to offer a refund of council tax or compensation.
20. In response to enquiries, the Council said there was no cardboard recycling bin for the flats, as the management company for the flat had not asked for one. BWC arranged for a cardboard recycling bin to be installed.
21. Mr X made two further complaints to the Council in May 2020. In his first complaint, he told the Council the cardboard recycling had been collected after he complained in November but had not been collected since. In the second complaint, he told the Council the recycling had still not been collected after his last complaint and the cardboard bin was overflowing, blocking access to the bin store. He specifically asked someone from the Council to contact him, as he was not satisfied with the responses from BWC.
22. The Council passed both the complaints to BWC. The BWC told Mr X it could not find his previous complaint but had passed his request to the recycling supervisor and “asked him to ensure collection of the cardboard”. It apologised for the poor service but declined to offer a refund or compensation.
23. Mr X was not satisfied with BWC’s response and asked to escalate his complaint to the Council. He says he had to request this several times.
24. The Council sent Mr X a stage two response in August 2020. It upheld his complaint and accepted he had raised the issue of missed collections on several occasions. It accepted Mr X had to send several emails to escalate his complaint to stage two. It apologised for the poor service but refused to refund some of his council tax.

The Council’s response to my enquiries

25. The Council explained that when Mr X complained about the missed collections, BWC policy was to close missed collection reports after it passed them to the collections supervisor. The Council could not confirm if BWC arranged a further collection for the cardboard waste.
26. It said it had identified two further reports of missed collections for Mr X’s address after his complaints in May 2020. It also said it had asked BWC to monitor collections from the address and there had been no more missed collections from July 2020 onwards.
27. It could not explain why the cardboard recycling had not been collected from Mr X’s block of flats, although it believed the issues had now been resolved.
28. The Council outlined improvements BWC were making to its systems, including:
• electronic recording of missed collections;
• allowing people to report missed collections online, rather than by phone; and
• collection crews being able to log issues in real-time.

Analysis

29. Each time Mr X complained, he reported ongoing and longstanding problems with missed collections. However, the Council or BWC did not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the frequency or causes of the missed collections. Instead, BWC treated the complaints as reports of missed collections, sent standard replies and closed the reports before checking the issue had been resolved. That was fault. That caused Mr X an injustice because he had to complain to the Council several times and chase it for responses.
30. Councils are responsible for the refuse and recycling collections and should intervene if complainants are not satisfied with the response of its contractor.
31. In Mr X’s final complaint, he specifically asked for a response from the Council because he was not satisfied with the response from BWC. However, the Council still passed this complained to BWC. That was fault which caused Mr X further frustration.
32. Although the Council has said it believes the problem has been solved and it has monitored collections, it has not provided any evidence of this.

Recommended action

33. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them. So, although I found fault with the service of the Bristol Waste Company, I have made recommendations to the Council.
34. Within one month of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• write to Mr X to apologise for the avoidable time, trouble and frustration caused by its failure to properly investigate the issues he reported sooner.
• instruct the Bristol Waste Company to monitor the recycling collections at Mr X’s block of flats for eight weeks following my final decision.
35. Within two months of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• remind staff handling complaints about recurring missed collections that they should establish the underlying cause, identify appropriate remedial actions, communicate these to complainants and ensure issues are resolved before closing complaints. This should include staff at the Council and Bristol Waste Company.
• remind Council staff handling complaints of its responsibly to consider complaints where someone is dissatisfied with the response of a commissioned service provider, as stated in section 9 of its Complaints and Compliments Policy.

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Final decision

36. The Council was at fault for failing to ensure regular recycling collections from Mr X’s block of flats and in how it dealt with his complaints. It has agreed to my recommendations which remedies any injustice caused, therefore I have completed my investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

37. I have not investigated matters before May 2019. The law does not generally allow the Ombudsman to consider matters that occurred more than 12 months ago unless there are good reasons. I consider the delay in the Council’s stage 2 response to be a good reason to consider matters for 12 months before Mr X’s first complaint to the Council, but not earlier than this.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman