West Northamptonshire Council (21 007 028)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about problems the complainant had setting up a direct debit for the garden waste collections. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains he had problems setting up a direct debit for the garden waste collection service and it was difficult trying to resolve the problem. Mr X wants compensation or a reduction in the cost of the service for next year.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 an investigation if we decide:
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and Council. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
- Mr X had trouble setting up a direct debit to pay for the garden waste service. The Council wanted other family members to agree to the direct debit despite Mr X explaining that he lives alone. Mr X says it was hard to contact anyone and, as he could not resolve the problem, he had to make an on-line payment. Mr X wants compensation.
- The Council apologised for his inconvenience and the problems he had had trying to contact anyone. It explained there had been a technical problem with the processing of the direct debit and it had appeared Mr X was trying to make a payment from a joint account.
- Mr X has been caused some inconvenience and frustration both in terms of trying to set up the payment and trying to resolve the problem. However, the Council has apologised and explained what went wrong and the complaint does not represent a degree of injustice which requires compensation or an investigation.
Final decision
- I will not investigate this because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman