Summary: Miss X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her waste in line with an agreed assisted waste collection service between November 2020 and November 2021. This was despite a previous finding of fault by us in November 2020. The Council was at fault when it failed to make regular waste collections and in how it handled Miss X’s complaint about the matter. The Council agreed to pay Miss X £650 to recognise the frustration, distress and time and trouble caused to her and will monitor her collections for six months.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her waste in line with an agreed assisted waste collection service between November 2020 and November 2021, despite a previous finding of fault by us in November 2020 for the same issue. Miss X stated this caused her frustration, inconvenience and distress.

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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 read the documents provided by Miss X and discussed the complaint with her on the telephone.
5. I read the documents provided by the Council in response to my enquiries.
6. I reviewed our decision on Miss X’s previous complaint on this matter.
7. 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

8. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1960 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area.
9. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who cannot move their bins due to a disability or ill health. The policy states it will provide assistance for all three waste bins. This includes rubbish, recycling and garden waste.
10. For assisted collections, when a resident reports a missed collection, the crew should return to complete the round as soon as possible.

The Council’s complaints procedure

11. The Council’s complaints procedure states that at stage 1 it will investigate a complaint within 10 days. If the complaint is escalated to stage 2 it will complete its investigation within 20 working days. If a complainant is not satisfied following stage 2 the Council directs them to us.

What happened

12. Miss X is disabled and lives alone in her property. Due to a disability Miss X cannot move her waste bins herself. She has an agreed assisted waste collection provided by the Council. This states the refuse collectors will collect, empty and return the bins to the side of her property.
13. In November 2020 we investigated a complaint brought to us by Miss X. We found the Council had repeatedly failed to provide Miss X with the assisted waste collection for over a year. The Council agreed to monitor the collection of Miss X’s bins for four weeks to ensure the service improved.
14. In December 2020 the Council arranged for Miss X to contact Officer A directly on the phone if the Council missed her bin collection. This was to avoid Miss X having to contact the service centre.
15. Miss X reported missed bin collections during December 2020 and January 2021 to Officer A.
16. In February 2021 Miss X complained to the Council about the missed collections. She also stated refuse collectors often left her neighbour’s bin over her dropped kerb at the end of her driveway. Her disability meant she could not move the bin herself, so, when this happened, she could not leave her home address in her car.
17. The Council did not collect Miss X’s bin twice in February. Miss X stated she reported the missed collections to Officer A.
18. In March the Council responded and said it would monitor Miss X’s collection. It said if she remained dissatisfied, she could complain to us. Miss X responded and again complained refuse collectors were leaving her neighbour’s bin at the end of her driveway.
19. The Council did not collect Miss X’s bin at the end of March 2021. She reported this to Officer A on the phone and to the complaints officer via email.
20. In April 2021 the Council told Miss X it would register her complaint of the two missed collections in December 2020 and January 2021 at stage 1 of the complaint process.
21. Between 13 April and 21 May 2021, the Council’s refuse collection staff took part in industrial action. This impacted on the Council’s ability to collect bins across the Council area. The Council wrote to Miss X and stated due to the strike action there would be a delay in it responding to her stage 1 complaint.
22. Miss X reported a further missed collection to the Council’s service centre in April. The Council told her she could not report the missed collection until the following week. Miss X told the Council the monitoring it said was happening in March was ineffective and she wished to escalate her complaint to stage 2. She said she felt the Council was discriminating against her because she was disabled as abled bodied people did not have to regularly report missed collections.
23. In May Miss X received a letter from the Council. It said it was arranging to collect her waste during the strike action as she could not access the alternative arrangements in place.
24. The Council did not collect Miss X’s bins twice in May. Miss X contacted the Council and reported the matter.
25. In the middle of May the Council confirmed to Miss X it would consider her complaint of two missed collections at stage 2 and it aimed to respond within 15 days. It said it would also consider 11 other points of complaint.
26. At the end of June Miss X contacted the Council and said it had again not collected her bin. Miss X said she had tried to contact Officer A, but he was unavailable. Miss X said she wanted the Council to deal with her complaint at stage 3.
27. The Council responded and apologised for the lack of response at stage 1 and stage 2 of the complaint procedure. It stated it would consider the agreed 12 point complaint at stage 3 and include the delay in the complaint process. It said it would consider the lack of communication when Officer A was unavailable.
28. In July the Council wrote to Miss X at stage 3. It stated:
• the delays at stage 1 and 2 were due to the industrial action and apologised;
• the missed collections were due to the industrial action and apologised;
• when Officer A was not at work his workload was divided among team members which may have led to occasional errors; and
• senior management felt Miss X should report missed collections direct to the service centre.

The Council stated it was determined to resolve the matter and said it would actively monitor the situation.

29. Dissatisfied with the Council’s response Miss X complained to us. She said she kept a written record of all the missed collections and returns. She stated the Council left her neighbour’s bin across her dropped kerb at the end of her driveway in July and August, and collected but did not return her bin to the agreed place twice in November 2021.
30. In response to my enquiries the Council stated Officer A was in regular contact with Miss X. It said it did not miss the collections but they were occasionally delayed as it completed them after Miss X’s calls. The Council stated it only had one record of a missed collection when the neighbour’s bin was left over Miss X’s drive in November 2021.
31. The Council stated Miss X’s assisted collection was displayed on the refuse lorry onboard computer system. The collection staff had to confirm when they completed the collection and return. However, the vehicle it used for most of Miss X’s collections did not have the onboard computer system installed.

My findings

32. We previously investigated a complaint by Miss X about the same matter. In that investigation we decided:
• the Council had failed to routinely collect Miss X’s bins;
• its records about the matter were incomplete and inconsistent; and
• it delayed in accepting and then responding to Miss X’s complaint about the matter.

As set out in my findings below I have identified the same faults during this investigation.

33. The Council repeatedly failed to collect Miss X’s waste and return her bins to the agreed place, as agreed in the assisted collection agreement. The Council’s explanation the collections were delayed and not missed is not sufficient. There is no evidence the Council carried out any adequate monitoring of the collections. The Council cited the industrial action as the reason for the missed collections. However, only two of the nine incidents occurred during the relevant time period, and the Council had specified assisted collections would continue during the action.
34. The failure to provide the agreed service was fault. This caused Miss X frustration and time and trouble in contacting the Council regularly. Miss X said she continues to experience problems with her bin collections.
35. The Council stated it only received one report of a missed collection in 12 months. The correspondence shows Miss X told it of at least nine missed collections between December 2020 and June 2021. The poor record keeping was fault and caused a delay in it accepting Miss X’s complaint. This caused Miss X frustration and time and trouble in asking the Council to accept and investigate her complaint.
36. The Council initially failed to accept Miss X’s complaint and then delayed in responding to it. It took 88 days longer than the procedure states to provide a response. I accept the industrial action may have had a small impact on the timeliness of the response. However, the impact was minimal. The industrial action lasted for 27 working days and Miss X raised her complaint two and a half months before it began. The Council agreed to investigate 14 points of complaint at stage 3. Its response considered four points of complaint and remained silent on the other ten. The Council did not provide any evidence it investigated Miss X’s complaint of discrimination or refuse collectors leaving her neighbour’s bins over her dropped kerb. The Council’s lack of investigation and poor complaint handling was fault. This caused Miss X distress and frustration as she had to repeatedly complain to the Council about the same matter.

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Agreed action

37. Within one month of this decision the Council agreed to:
• write to Miss X and apologise for the frustration, distress and time and trouble caused by the identified faults;
• pay Miss X £50 for each month the Council missed a collection, £450 in total, in recognition of the injustice caused to her by the identified faults;
• pay Miss X £200 in recognition of the time and trouble she has been put to in repeatedly contacting the Council and pursuing her complaint for a second time in as many years;
• review Miss X’s assisted collection agreement to ensure instructions are clear, and to include an agreement on who she can report a missed collection or bins across her dropped kerb to, and how the Council will respond; and
• review how complaint handlers and service centre staff record missed collections to ensure they are accurately and consistently recorded.

The Council will provide us with evidence it has done so.

38. The Council agreed to monitor all Miss X’s assisted collection for the six months following this decision. It will ensure it collects, empties and returns the bins in line with the assisted collection agreement. It will also ensure Miss X’s dropped kerb is clear of any neighbour’s bins after each collection. The Council will provide us with written evidence it has done so each month.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation. I have found faults leading to injustice and the Council agreed to my recommendations to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman