Summary: We upheld Mrs X complaint the Council repeatedly missed her recycling collections, and its service improvements did not resolve the problem. The Council has agreed to pay Mrs X £150 for her inconvenience and monitor the collections for six weeks.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect her recycling between January 2021 and March 2022. She said the Council’s actions in response to her complaint did not resolve the problem.
2. Mrs X said the rubbish build up was inconvenient. She said frequent reporting and bringing her complaint caused her avoidable frustration, inconvenience and time and trouble.

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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 an organisation’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. I considered the information and documents provided by Mrs X and the Council. I spoke to Mrs X about her complaint. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. The Council collects residents’ recycling each week. Residents must report missed collections within 48 hours, otherwise the Council will just collect the recycling on the next due date.
7. The Recycling Supervisor investigates missed collection reports. The Council will return within 5 working days if the collection was missed due to crew error or for any other reason.
8. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council temporarily aimed to return to collect missed recycling within the first two working days of a missed collection report. Where this was not possible, it advised customers that it would be on the next scheduled collection date.

What happened

9. Mrs X’s property is in a rural area away from the main road.
10. Mrs X said the Council missed collections in January, February, and twice in June 2021. She reported online and then complained to the Council in June.
11. The Council’s records show Mrs X reported 11 missed recycling collections between January 2021 and March 2022. This includes three collections during the Ombudsman’s involvement. The Council records show it returned to collect nine of these missed collections within its overall 5-day policy or temporary next scheduled date arrangement.
12. The Council said one of the return collections was missed due to a high volume of recycling and reduced staff levels. It could not provide a reason for the other but arranged further collections on the next available date for both.
13. In its stage 1 response, the Council apologised and said it was looking into the situation. It agreed to update its records of Mrs X’s property and check the location tracker on bin lorries. It also said it would ensure crews were following the correct route and discuss the problem with them. It believed these measures would prevent recurrence.
14. However, there were three further missed collections between August and October. Mrs X therefore escalated her complaint.
15. In its stage 2 response, the Council:
• Apologised and said the service had experienced high staff absence because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The collections were therefore handled by crews and drivers who were unfamiliar with Mrs X’s property.
• Confirmed Mrs X’s collection was now assigned to a fixed crew who had a vehicle tracker with Mrs X’s property pinpointed. This would highlight Mrs X’s property during rounds and prevent further issues.
• Asked Mrs X to report any further issues so the Operations Manager could consider suitable action.
16. Mrs X reported a further missed collection in December and then bought her complaint to us. Since Mrs X’s complaint, there have been three further missed recycling collections as I have set out in paragraph 11.
17. The Council told me breakdowns and staff shortages were affecting the service. It said it had leased new bin lorries and recruited new drivers. It is also taking active steps to improve its operational procedures with customer feedback.
18. To address Mrs X’s complaint, the Council said:
• It has created a new round for Mrs X and some other properties. It assigned a reliable team and discussed the location problem with them.
• The location tracker will flag Mrs X’s property. The tracker application has also been placed on the driver’s mobile.
• It has not received any further missed collection reports from Mrs X.

Was there fault and did it cause injustice?

19. The Council has accepted it failed to collect Mrs X’s recycling on the scheduled day on 11 occasions and apologised. It provided reasons and arranged a return collection on nine of these occasions. However, this was fault causing Mrs X avoidable frustration, inconvenience and time and trouble reporting each time it happened.
20. The Council suggested service improvements in its responses to Mrs X’s complaint. But these did not have the desired impact and were not adequately monitored. Further collections were missed, and Mrs X spent time reporting and going through the complaints process. This was poor service and was fault causing avoidable inconvenience, time and trouble.

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Agreed actions

21. The Council has taken some action to remedy the injustice and improve the service, but this was not sufficient. It has agreed:
• Within one month of this decision, to pay Mrs X £150 for her avoidable frustration, inconvenience and time and trouble.
• To monitor Mrs X’s recycling collection for 6 weeks to ensure its service improvements of using tracking software for Mrs X’s property and obtaining her feedback are effective and update us on the outcome.

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Final decision

22. I upheld Mrs X’s complaint about missed recycling collections between January 2021 and March 2022 and a failure to resolve the complaint issues. This caused avoidable frustration, inconvenience and time and trouble. The Council has already apologised and taken some action to minimise the chance of recurrence. It also needs to make a payment of £150 and complete the period of monitoring, vehicle tracking and feedback. This is a suitable remedy.
23. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman