Summary: Mrs X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect garden waste from her property. This amounts to fault and it caused an injustice to Mrs X. The Council has resolved the matter and apologised. We have not made any further recommendations.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect garden waste from her property. Mrs X complains that despite reporting missed collections and making a complaint, the service did not improve.

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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’. 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)
3. 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

4. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered the information she provided.
5. I considered the information I received from the Council.
6. Mrs X and the Council were given the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

7. The Council runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the crew are asked to return to complete the round as soon as possible.
8. Mrs X has lived at her property for over three years and other than the odd missed collection, she had not experienced repeated missed collections. However, from July 2020, the collections were missed repeatedly for a number of months. Mrs X reported the missed collections to the Council.
9. Despite the reports, the garden waste continued to be missed so Mrs X submitted a complaint to the Council on 10 September 2020. The Council acknowledged this complaint the following day and apologised for the missed collections and the frustration it had caused. The Council passed on Mrs X’s comments to the relevant management team to ensure there were no further issues going forward. It also explained there had been some initial problems with the new measures it had recently implemented. The Council said it would rectify the issue.
10. On 23 September 2020, Mrs X submitted a formal stage 1 complaint due to another missed collection despite the promises the Council had made to rectify the situation. Mrs X said she felt her concerns had not been treated seriously by the Council.
11. The Council acknowledged her stage 1 complaint the following day and advised she would receive a response from a senior council officer within ten working days.
12. On 19 October 2020 the Council sent its complaint response to Mrs X. It upheld her complaint. The Council’s investigation revealed that there were at least five reports of missed collections since July. The Council said it issued a formal ‘crew reminder’ on 25 September to all crews to ensure they were familiar with the location of Mrs X’s property. It apologised for the standard of service she had received and also for the delayed response to her complaint.
13. Despite the crew reminder, Mrs X had to report another missed collection. She requested a solution from the Council as the one it had implemented was ineffective and she found it frustrating that she had to take time out of her day to submit reports of missed collections.
14. The Council said it had attended Mrs X’s property to collect the garden waste after it received her report but there was no waste to collect. Mrs X submitted a photograph of the garden waste outside her property and advised the Council it was still there waiting to be collected.
15. Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process. The Council described Mrs X’s property as ‘exclusive’ because the highway does not pass in front of her house and the access point is a pathway off a cul-de-sac. It said this causes issues when regular staff are replaced with temporary or agency staff as they may not be aware of the location. It went on to say this was evident when the operative that went to collect the garden waste after a missed collection, knocked on the wrong door but thought it was the correct address.
16. The Council said it would put measures in place to ensure collections are carried out by the crews and it would monitor waste collection over a six week period. The Council apologised for the standard of service Mrs X had received.
17. During the six weeks of monitoring, the Council collected the garden waste as scheduled and Mrs X did not submit any reports of missed collections. However, immediately after the monitoring period ended, Mrs X’s garden waste was not collected.
18. Mrs X reported this missed collection and requested her complaint to be escalated.
19. The Council advised Mrs X the crew had reported there was no garden waste outside Mrs X’s property. Mrs X clarified the waste was left outside her property the night before and it was still there when she returned home from work at 3.30pm.
20. The Council arranged for the garden waste to be collected and advised Mrs X she had exhausted the Council’s complaints process. It signposted her to the Ombudsman.

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Analysis

21. In accordance with its complaints policy, the Council should have responded to Mrs X’s stage 1 complaint within 10 working days. However, the Council sent its response after 18 working days. This is fault.
22. The Council apologised to Mrs X for the delay in responding to her complaint. I consider this satisfies any injustice caused by the delayed response.
23. The Council accepted it had missed some of Mrs X’s garden waste collections in 2020. After Mrs X had reported the missed collections and after she had exhausted the Council’s complaints process, the collections continued to be missed.
24. Mrs X has experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem after promising it would.
25. The repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s garden waste amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice. The Council has apologised to Mrs X for the standard of service it delivered.
26. On discussing the complaint with Mrs X, she advised me that in recent months, the service had improved and she did not have reason to report any missed collections.
27. Although there is fault causing injustice, the Council has apologised and Mrs X has confirmed the waste has been collected as scheduled for a number of months now. I do not consider the current situation warrants any further recommendations. The Council has provided Mrs X with the contact details of the relevant department should any further issues arise.

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Final decision

28. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s garden waste amounts to fault. The Council has remedied the injustice caused by the fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman