Summary: The Council was at fault for how it responded to Mr X’s reports of failed recycling collections. This meant Mr X had to continually report missed collections to the Council and dispose of some waste himself. The Council was also at fault for how it handled Mr X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a payment to Mr X, look into why reports of missed refuse collections were not dealt with sooner and review how it responds to refuse complaints.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about how the Council responded to his reports of missed recycling waste collections and how it handled his complaint about this.

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What I have investigated

2. As part of this investigation I have investigated Mr X’s complaint about missed waste collections from October 2020 until January 2021. I have set out at the end of this statement what I have not investigated.

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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 this investigation I considered the complaint made by Mr X and the Council’s responses. I considered the information provided by Mr X and the Council and discussed the complaint over the telephone with Mr X. I send a draft of this decision to Mr X and the Council and considered comments received in response.

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What I found

Background

6. The Council’s practice was to collect recycled waste every fortnight. In October 2020 the Council introduced changes to its waste collection rounds which involved bin collection crews collecting recycled waste on Tuesdays instead of Fridays.
7. The Council operates a two stage complaints policy. At stage one the Council will acknowledge a complaint within five working days which provides details of the officer who will consider the complaint. The Council will send a stage one response within 30 days of its acknowledgement.
8. At stage two a complaint is considered by a senior officer. The Council will send the stage two response within 30 days of acknowledging receipt.

What happened

9. On 7 October 2020, Mr X reported the Council had not collected his recycled waste. On 21 October 2020 and 3 November 2020, Mr X reported the Council had not collected his recycling bags and brown bin.
10. On 17 November 2020, Mr X again reported the Council had not emptied his brown bin. The Council told Mr X it would put him on a watch list.
11. On 1, 15 and 31 December 2020 Mr X reported to the Council it had not collected his brown bin. Each time Mr X reported missed waste collections the Council provided him with a reference number.
12. On 4 January 2021 Mr X raised a formal complaint with the Council about its failed recycling collections. Mr X said the Council failed to collect his recycling on seven consecutive occasions from October to December 2020. Mr X said he reported this each time and the Council told him it placed him on its watchlist, but it still failed to make collections. Mr X said the Council’s recycling waste collection lorries were not driving down the extra part of his road to collect his recycled waste as others in the village had their waste collected during this period.
13. On 4 February 2021 Mr X wrote to the Council to chase up his complaint as he had not received a response. On 9 February 2021 an internal email from the Council showed it had overlooked Mr X’s complaint. Mr X wrote to the Council again on 15 March 2021 chasing a response to his complaint.
14. Mr X contacted the Ombudsman as the Council had not responded to his complaint. After making enquiries with the Council, the Council said it issued Mr X a stage one response on 1 April 2021. As Mr X had not received this response the Council sent this to him on 21 April 2021.
15. The Council’s stage one response said it had added a notification to advise its waste collection contractor that Mr X’s waste was not being collected and has continued to monitor Mr X’s waste collection since 4 January 2021.
16. On 10 May 2021 Mr X asked the Council to consider his complaint at stage two. Mr X said the Council failed to follow its own complaints procedure when it responded to his complaint. He also said the Council was aware for 14 weeks its contractors were not collecting his recycled waste. The Council failed to investigate the breakdown of communication within the Council or why no one came to collect his recycled waste.
17. On 11 May 2021 the Council acknowledged Mr X’s request to move his complaint to stage two.
18. The Council provided its final response to Mr X on 15 June 2021. It said it received reports of more missed collections than normal and this led to a delay in responding to queries. The Council said it added a permanent notification onto the electric devices its waste collection contractor used when collecting waste. This notification explained the location of Mr X’s property. The Council said it passed onto its contractor each of the specific missed collections Mr X reported.

Analysis

19. The Council was at fault for the way it investigated Mr X’s reports of missed collections and the time taken to resolve this. Mr X initially reported missed collections to the Council in October 2020. Each time he reported a missed collection the Council provided him with a reference number for this report. It took the Council until January 2021 to put something in place so that its contractor started to collect Mr X’s recycled waste again.
20. I acknowledge the Council said it reported Mr X’s concerns to its contractor for waste collection, however it is not clear why Mr X’s collections continued to be missed throughout November and December 2020.
21. As a result Mr X had seven missed collections for recycled waste in a row and had to wait 14 weeks for the Council to start collecting his recycled waste again. Mr X also had to take some of his recycled waste to the local recycling facility.
22. Mr X also complained about the Council’s complaint handling. At stage one the Council did not register Mr X’s complaint or send him an acknowledgment. This is fault. In addition, the Council missed its 30 day timeframe to respond to Mr X at stage 1. This is also fault.
23. The stage one response from the Council does not specify the officer who investigated the complaint and is signed of as from the Council. This is also fault. Mr X does not know who investigated his complaint.
24. At stage two, the Council correctly acknowledged Mr X’s complaint on 11 May 2021, however it took over 30 days to provide its stage two response. This is fault.
25. Due to the Council’s failures in complaint handling Mr X had to chase up the Council multiple times, asking it to respond to his complaint. Mr X eventually contacted the Ombudsman as the Council had not provided him with a stage one complaint response. Overall it took the Council over six months to progress Mr X’s complaints through its complaints procedure. Had the Council handled Mr X’s complaint in line with its complaints procedure it would have provided him with a decision much sooner and could have avoided Mr X complaining to the Ombudsman.
26. The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the wider public interest issues raised by this complaint. Having done that, our expectation is that the Council will focus from here forwards on addressing the underlying faults identified in its refuse service and its complaint handling. We do not anticipate conducting further investigations into the same issue, unless the Council fails to address the concerns we have identified. The personal remedy recommended here is applicable to this sample investigation only. It is not a ‘compensation’ payment for missed collections and we do not expect it be replicated for others affected. Instead, we expect the Council to learn lessons from this complaint to improve services for all residents in future.

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Agreed action

27. Within one month of my final decision, the Council agreed to carry out the following and provide evidence to the Ombudsman it has done so:
• Apologise to Mr X for failing to collect his recycling waste for seven consecutive collections and for its failures in handling his complaint.
• Pay Mr X £500 to recognise the distress and frustration he suffered from seven missed waste collections and for the time it took the Council to resolve this. In addition, this payment should recognise the Council’s failures in complaint handling in this case and for the time and trouble Mr X spent progressing his complaint with the Council.
28. In coming to these figures I have considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies.
29. Within two months of my final decision, the Council agreed to carry out the following and provide evidence to the Ombudsman it has done so:
• Review the way it responds to refuse complaints, ensuring that it follows its own complaints policy and provides responses to complaints within its published timeframes.
• Look into why reports of missed collections were not dealt with sooner, given the Council were passing reports onto its contractor. It should assess whether any issues relating to this are still outstanding.

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Final decision

30. I have completed my investigation and found the Council at fault for the way it handled Mr X’s reports of missed waste collections and for its complaint handling. This caused injustice to Mr X. The Council has agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

31. Mr X has raised further concerns that the Council has now suspended its brown bin collections as of August 2021, due to a shortage of drivers. I have not investigated this issue as it was not contained in Mr X’s complaint to the Council.
32. Mr X would need to raise a complaint with the Council about this in the first instance, so it has the opportunity to respond to him. If he remains dissatisfied with the Council’s response, he can bring the complaint to us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman