Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about missed bin collections. It is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome to that provided by the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains the Council:

• did not collect his bins and those in his local area for four weeks; and
• did not respond to his communications about the missed collections.

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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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(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 responses. I sent Mr B a copy of the draft decision and invited him to comment.

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What I found

4. Mr B complained the Council did not collect his bins, or those of his local community, for four weeks, which could have affected public health. He says rubbish was left in the streets and when he contacted the Council, he was told it would be collected in three days which did not happen.
5. Mr B says he contacted the Council on many occasions but it did not respond to him to resolve the issues. He wants the Council to compensate him with a reduction in council tax.
6. The Council says it is preparing for a new recycling service and had to change its bin collections to allow for this. It says 31,000 properties were affected and it expected there to be some issues. To lessen disruption, the Council says it put measures in place including in-cab technology, extra crews and weekend working.
7. The Council says that collection crews were working new rounds they were not familiar with. For the first two weeks of the changes, it says missed bin collections were as expected and the measures it had in place resolved most issues.
8. In the next four weeks, the Council says expected improvements with collections did not happen, and rounds were still incomplete so it acted with its contractor to correct the problems. It says this led to an improvement and rounds were completed.
9. The Council says it had higher than usual demand for contact and made the decision to use its time to deal with the outstanding problems, freeing up officer time to address any remaining issues.
10. In response to Mr B’s request for a council tax reduction, the Council says there is no provision in existing council tax legislation for this. It says the cost of public services funded by council tax is spread across all tax payers in the same way, without looking at the extent to which a resident makes use of services.
11. The Council has apologised and recognised it provided a poor service. It has corrected the issues and says it will be working with its contractor to make sure any future changes are carried out to expected standards. We could achieve no more than this; the matter is now resolved and the Council’s apology is enough to remedy any avoidable injustice the Council caused. The Council was correct to tell Mr B council tax is a tax rather than a payment for council services. The Council must collect and the taxpayer must pay the tax, which is a separate matter to the services the Council provides.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely that further investigation will lead to a different outcome to that already provided by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman