Summary: Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from a small block of flats which has led to an accumulation of waste, which is untidy, smells and attracts flies. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste amounts to fault. The action taken and the apology given are a sufficient remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect household waste from a block of flats on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed. This has led to an accumulation of waste which is untidy, smells and attracts flies.
2. Miss X complains that despite repeatedly reporting the missed collections and making complaints, the problem has continued.

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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’. 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)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 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.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. When a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.

What happened here

9. Miss X represents the managing agents of a small block of flats. She complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the waste from the communal bin servicing these flats, often for weeks at a time.
10. According to the Council’s records Miss X reported eight missed collections in 2020. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council made the collections in a timely manner. The records also suggest the Council also missed other collections.
11. For example, Miss X reported missed collections on 19 and 26 May 2020, which the Council closed on 9 June 2020. This suggests the Council also missed the collection scheduled for 1 June 2020. If it had made this collection, it could have closed both reports that day.
12. Similarly, Miss X reported missed collections on 12 and 25 November 2020, which the Council closed on 26 November and 29 December 2020, respectively. It is unclear why, if the Council made a collection on 26 November 2020, it did not close both reports that day.
13. The Council states there may be a delay between when it goes out to collect a missed collection and when it closes the report, so it is not necessarily the case that it also missed the intervening collections. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates it made the missed collections where they are different to the date the report was closed.
14. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mrs X also made a formal complaint to the Council. In June 2020, Miss X complained the Council had not collected the communal waste for five weeks. Miss X stated she had repeatedly reported the missed collections and been told the problem had been escalated, but the Council was still not making the collections.
15. The Council apologised for the poor service and confirmed a clear up crew had now collected the waste. The service manager had also spoken to the crew and instructed them to make all collections from the flats. The Council explained that while the services were operating as normal, there was some disruption due to staff having to self-isolate due to COVID-19. This had led to missed collections and delays in clearing missed collections.
16. In early August 2020, Miss X reported a further missed collection and asked the Council to review her complaint. The Council again apologised for the poor service and confirmed it had escalated the complaint to the depot manager who would speak to the crew. It anticipated this would lead to an improvement in service.
17. As this did not resolve the problem and there were further missed collections, Miss X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states the depot has experienced staffing issues over many months with a number of crew members needing to self-isolate at times due to COVID-19. It states this caused disruption as relief staff needed to familiarise themselves with the route to follow and the location of the bin store. In addition, there have been occasional access problems and vehicle breakdowns.
18. The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections by analysing their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses start to appear frequently. Its mobile technology (in cab device/mobile hand-held device) can also flag up repeat missed collections. However, as the flats are on a container round, which are not routed it is not possible to produce a report highlighting the missed collections.
19. The Council has arranged to monitor the collections from the flats for thirteen weeks to try and identify and issues and resolve them.

Analysis

20. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect the waste from this block of flats. These failings in the service amount to fault.
21. The Council states Miss X has reported a total of eight missed collections, but I consider it likely the Council missed significantly more collections. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Miss X’s complaints refer to missed collections not included in the Council’s records. The complaints also refer to consecutive missed collections and waiting weeks for the Council to make collections.
22. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when it actually collected the waste. I consider it likely that there were more missed collections than the Council’s records suggest.
23. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Miss X’s complaints. Despite the Council’s assurances it had reminded the crew members and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
24. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused a significant injustice requiring a remedy. We would often recommend a nominal financial payment for failings in service of this nature, but I do not consider it appropriate in this instance. The managing agents have sought to assist residents in resolving the problem but have not directly experienced the problems associated with missed collections and the accumulation of waste.
25. Miss X has confirmed the service has improved since the start of the year and the Council is now monitoring the collections. This should also lead to an improvement.
26. In the circumstances, I consider the action taken to monitor collections and the apology given are a sufficient remedy.

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Final decision

27. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste amounts to fault. The action taken and the apology given are a sufficient remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman