Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about missed bin collections and subsequent poor complaint handling. We do not consider that the complainant has suffered a significant personal injustice which warrants out involvement. Also, it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation carried out by the Council. Or that further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Ms X, says:
• the Council lied when it responded to her complaint about missed refuse and recycling collections
• the Council continues to miss her bin collections; and
• the Council failed to follow its complaints procedure

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the Council
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Ms X complained to the Council in August about missed bin collections. The Council said it could not collect the bins as the entrance was blocked.
6. Ms X escalated her complaint, providing CCTV footage showing the entrance was not blocked. The Council apologised
7. Ms X also reported more missed collections in March the following year. The Council told her it had displayed the wrong collection dates on its website, but the collections were made according to the schedule
8. In response to my enquiries, Ms X has not advised of any missed collections since March.
9. The Council has apologised for the delays and for responding to her first complaint without checking the CCTV. It confirmed it has reprimanded the staff and that managers must check CCTV footage or check with complainants, before responding to complaints to ensure the veracity of the crew’s explanations for missed collections.
10. While we would expect the Council to respond according to its complaints policy, I do not propose to investigate this issue further. While Ms X has found this matter dissatisfactory, I do not consider she has suffered sufficient personal injustice because of failings in the complaints process to warrant our involvement.
11. I also believe that further investigation regarding the missed refuse collections will not add to that carried out by the Council. And as we cannot involve ourselves in the Council’s disciplinary process, it would be unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we do not consider that Ms X has suffered a significant personal injustice which warrants out involvement. Or that an investigation would add to that carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman