Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the garden waste service. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council has charged for 12 months when she can only use the garden waste service for nine months. Mrs X wants a refund of £17.50.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

What I found

Garden waste service

4. The service started in May 2020 and runs for 12 months. This covers 23 collections. The price is £70. People can sign-up at any time but the price, and number of collections, is the same regardless of when they apply.
5. Garden waste is a discretionary service that councils can charge for.

What happened

6. Mrs X went abroad early in 2020. Due to COVID-19 she could not return until August. Mrs X signed-up for the garden waste service in August. She asked the Council for a £17.50 refund because she can only use the service for nine months.
7. The Council declined to make a refund. It explained the service started in May and runs for 12 months. It confirmed that the terms and conditions, and the webpage, explain the price is the same regardless of when someone joins the service. It said it would not be efficient for people to have individual start and finish dates based on when they applied.
8. Mrs X is dissatisfied with the reply and wants a refund for the three months she did not have the service. Mrs X’s representative says the terms and conditions are not clearly displayed and it is odd for the Council to charge the same fee regardless of when someone applies.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The cost of the service for 2020/21 is £70. The rules state the price is the same regardless of when someone joins the service. The Council has charged Mrs X in accordance with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. Mrs X disagrees with how the scheme operates but the Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and cannot intervene because a council has a policy which someone disagrees with. Many councils operate the garden waste scheme in this way. It is for the Council, not the Ombudsman, to decide how the scheme will work. If Mrs X thinks the Council should allow a start date based on the date of application then she would need to lobby her councillors for a change in the way the Council runs the scheme. In addition, the webpage explains that people joining part-way through the year get a reduced number of collections and there is a clear link to the full terms and conditions.
10. I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. I appreciate Mrs X is on a low income and could not use the service until she returned to the UK, but a dispute over £17.50 does not represent sufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman