Summary: Mrs X complained the Council refuse crew failed to return her garden waste bin to the collection point after emptying it. Mrs X says the Council’s actions cause her strain in retrieving the bin given her age. The Ombudsman found fault with the Council. The Council has already made service improvements and corrected the underlying issue with collections. The Council agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendation to pay Mrs X £100 to reflect the inconvenience and frustration she experienced.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council refuse crew failed to return her garden waste bin to the collection point after emptying it. Mrs X says the refuse crew leave the bin by the roadside which is 100 metres from her property.
2. Mrs X says the Council’s actions cause her strain in retrieving the bin given her age.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered all the information Mrs X provided. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
6. Mrs X and the Council accepted my draft decision.

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What I found

Domestic waste collections

7. Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 allows councils to set out when and how they will collect domestic waste. The Act allows councils to give notice to householders regarding “the placing of [bins] for the purposes of facilitating the emptying of them, and access to the [bins] for that purpose”.

Council policy

8. The Council’s Household Waste Collection policy outlines that it will collect residual waste and recycling on an alternating fortnightly basis.
9. Policy 3 of the Council’s policy details its garden waste collection scheme. The Council runs a chargeable garden waste collection scheme which covers 25 collections per year. The Council collects garden waste every fortnight. The Council collects Ms X’s garden waste every fortnight alongside her recycling collection.
10. Policy 11 of the Council’s policy states that all waste containers should be presented at the edge of a resident’s property where the premises meets the adopted highway for collection. If a property is located on a private driveway or access road the waste containers must be presented at the end of this where the road meets the adopted highway.
11. Policy 12 of the Council’s policy states that it will return waste containers to the collection point described in policy 11.
12. Policy 19 of the Council’s policy details the Council’s “Collect and return” service. This service is available to residents with a disability or mobility problems where no one else in the property can take containers to the normal collection point outlined in policy 11. The Council will arrange for the crew to collect and return containers from an agreed on point.

Council complaints procedure

13. The Council has a two-stage corporate complaints procedure.
14. When a person complains to the Council it will log a complaint under Stage 1 of its complaint procedure. The Council will acknowledge the complaint and will provide a response within 20 working days. The Council says it will let a person know if it needs to extend this timescale.
15. If a person is not satisfied with the Council’s Stage 1 complaint response they can ask for review at Stage 2. On receipt of a Stage 2 complaint request, the Council will acknowledge the request within 5 working days. The Council aims to response within 20 working days. The Council will let a person know if they cannot meet this timescale and will provide a new timescale for response.

What happened

16. On 7 January 2021, Mrs X reported to the Council the refuse crew did not return her standard domestic waste bin to the collection point. The Council provided feedback to the refuse crew about this issue on 12 January 2021.
17. Mrs X reported the Council’s garden waste crew failed to return her bin to the collection point on 28 January 2021. Mrs X registered for the Council’s “collect and return” service on 30 January 2021. The Council provided feedback to the garden waste crew.
18. Mrs X reported failures of the Council’s garden waste crew to return her bin to the collection point on 11 March 2021, 25 March 2021 and 8 April 2021. The Council provided feedback to the garden waste crew on each occasion. Mrs X also reported the domestic waste crew failed to return her bin on 18 March 2021.
19. On 9 April 2021, Mrs X made a stage 1 complaint to the Council about the garden waste crew’s failure to return her bin to the correct location.
20. Mrs X reported two further failure’s of the Council’s garden waste crew to return her bin to the collection point on 22 April 2021 and 6 May 2021. The Council passed these reports over for investigation.
21. The Council provided Mrs X with a Stage 1 complaint response on 10 May 2021. It apologised for the delayed response to Mrs X’s complaint and confirmed it had signed her up to its “collect and return” service. The Council confirmed it had spoken with Mrs X and the issues with the domestic waste bin had stopped but the garden waste crew continued not to return her bin. The Council said it had provided feedback to the garden waste crew and apologised for the frustration and inconvenience caused.
22. Mrs X responded to the Council on 11 May 2021 to advise the garden waste collections continued to be an issue. The Council responded on 17 May 2021 to advise a member of the waste team would contact Mrs X.
23. On 20 May 2021, Mrs X reported the garden waste crew failed to return her bin again. A waste team manager contacted Mrs X on 21 May 2021 and told Mrs X they had reminded the crew about returning bins to the collection point. The manager also told Mrs X they had put a formal instruction on the system about Mrs X’s “collect and return” service.
24. Mrs X reported a further failed return of the garden waste bin on 3 June 2021. Mrs X requested the Council considered her complaint at Stage 2 of its complaint process on 7 June 2021. The Council told Mrs X it would provide its Stage 2 complaint response by 2 July 2021.
25. Mrs X reported a further failed return of the garden waste bin on 1 July 2021. The Council contacted Mrs X on 6 July 2021 to apologise about failure to provide the Stage 2 complaint response on time and advised it would provide a response by 26 July 2021. Mrs X reported a further failed return of the garden waste bin on 15 July 2021.
26. The Council apologised again to Mrs X on 26 July 2021 for failing to provide a Stage 2 complaint response. It told Mrs X it would provide a full response by 27 August 2021.
27. On 26 August 2021, the Council provided a Stage 2 complaint response to Mrs X. The Council confirmed it has set up a “collect and return” service for Mrs X on 16 February 2021. The Council said it had received nine reports from Mrs X since this point about her garden waste bin. The Council said it was unclear why the garden waste crew was not adhering to the “collect and return” instruction. The Council said it would start monitoring the garden waste collections and requested photographs from the waste management crews to show fulfilment of the “collect and return” service. The Council apologised for the delays in providing its complaint response and the issues Mrs X experienced with the “collect and return” service. The Council also said it would review how it uses crew feedback reports to identify and monitor issues.
28. A council waste crew manager attended Mrs X’s property on 26 August 2021 and took photographs to show return of the bins on this date following conclusion of the Stage 2 complaint.
29. The Council’s domestic refuse crew failed to return Mrs X’s bin to the correct location on 16 September 2021. Mrs X reported this to the Council and complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Analysis

Waste collection and return

30. Mrs X complained the Council waste crew failed to return her bins to the collection point.
31. The Council’s policy on waste collection, policies 11 and 12, says that a person must present their bin at the edge of their premises, or the end of their driveway, where it meets the adopted highway. The Council’s collection crews will collect any waste from this location and leave the bins at this location.
32. Mrs X complained about the Council’s domestic waste crew and garden waste crew failing to return her bin in January 2021, instead leaving it on the side of the highway. At this point, Mrs X was not signed up to the Council’s “collect and return” service.
33. The Council’s waste collection crews acted in line with the Council’s policy by leaving the bins on the side of the highway before Mrs X signed up to the “collect and return” service. I do not find fault with the Council.
34. Mrs X asked to sign up to the Council’s “collect and return” service on 30 January 2021. The Council placed Mrs X on the “collect and return” service on 16 February 2021. The Council told to its waste collection crews to collect Mrs X’s bins from the top of her drive and return the bins to this same location.
35. From 16 February 2021, the Council’s waste collection crews should have collected and returned all bins to the collection point in line with policy 19 of its waste collection policy.
36. Mrs X reported nine instances of the garden waste crew failing to return her bin to the correct location from 16 February 2021 until 16 July 2021. During this time, the Council collected Mrs X’s garden waste on eleven occasions. Following Mrs X signing up to the “collect and return” service, the Council failed to follow policy 19 on nearly every garden waste collection for Mrs X until 16 July 2021. This is fault.
37. The Council’s fault caused Mrs X inconvenience and exertion in needing to retrieve the bins herself. Given Mrs X’s eligibility for the Council’s “collect and return” service because of her age, this was an avoidable injustice the Council placed on Mrs X.
38. In response to Mrs X’s reports, the Council provided feedback to the garden waste crew repeatedly and placed a formal instruction on its system for the crew.
39. Since 16 July 2021, Mrs X has not reported any further issues with her garden waste “collect and return” service to either the Council or the Ombudsman. The Council’s records also show no evidence of further failings of the garden waste crew to comply with the “collect and return” service. While the Council was at fault for failing to adhere to its policy until 16 July 2021, it has since resolved the underlying issue.
40. While Mrs X also experienced some instances of the Council failing to return her domestic waste bin, this only occurred on two occasions since 16 February 2021. While this was fault, this did not occur on such a regular basis to cause Mrs X a significant personal injustice. The lack of reoccurrences since September 2021 also shows the Council has resolved the underlying issue.
41. In response to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council has updated its reporting and monitoring service for waste collection. The Council now takes information directly from the waste crew’s system to provide daily updates and track trends over a 12-week period. The Ombudsman considers the Council has already taken suitable steps to improve is monitoring of waste collections.

Complaint handling

42. Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council on 9 April 2021.
43. The Council’s complaint policy says it will provide a Stage 1 complaint response to a person within 20 working days. The Council provided Mrs X with a Stage 1 complaint response on 10 May 2021. The Council missed its complaint response timescale by one working day. While this is fault, a delay of one working day does not present a significant personal injustice.
44. Mrs X requested the Council considered her complaint at Stage 2 of its complaint process on 7 June 2021. The Council acted in line with its policy by accepting the escalation request on 9 June 2021 and providing a timescale for response of 2 July 2021.
45. The Council failed to meet this timescale and failed to advise Mrs X it would be unable to meet the timescale until 6 July 2021. This is fault.
46. The Council told Mrs X it would respond by 26 July 2021 and then 27 August 2021. The Council acted correctly to keep Mrs X updated about the delays but in total took 59 working days to provide the Stage 2 complaint response. The Council’s complaint procedure says it will aim to provide a complaint response within 20 working days at Stage 2. Taking 59 days to provide the Stage 2 complaint response is fault.
47. The Council has already apologised to Mrs X for its failure to adhere to the “collect and return” service and for the delays in handling her complaint.

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Agreed action

48. Within one month of the Ombudsman’s final decision the Council should:
• Pay Mrs X £100 for the avoidable frustration, inconvenience and exertion she experienced through both the Council’s failure to adhere to the “collect and return” service and handling of her complaint.

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Final decision

49. There was fault by the Council as the Council has agreed to my recommendation, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman