Summary: Mr X complained that the Council repeatedly failed to collect his bins which were registered for an assisted collection. The Council accepts fault and has suggested a way forward. We have made recommendations to acknowledge the distress the Council’s fault has caused Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council has continually failed to collect his bins. His bins are registered for assisted collection and he needs help to be able to put them back in place. He says that therefore, the Council’s continual failure to assist him in this way has caused him an injustice as he is either unable or finds it very difficult to collect his bins without aid.

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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. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)

5. 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

6. I communicated with Mr X. I made enquiries with the Council and researched relevant guidance and policy.
7. Mr 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

8. Councils, as local waste collection authorities have a duty to collect domestic waste and recycling from households. The Council has an assisted collection policy. This service is aimed at disabled people, frail people or those otherwise physically unable to wheel their bin to the kerbside for collection.
9. Mr X’s black bins for non-recyclable waste, should be collected every week. His green bin collection, for recylcing waste, should be collected every four weeks.

2020

10. In February 2020, the Council failed to collect the black bins from Mr X’s house. Its records show it also failed to collect the bins from all the houses on Mr X’s street.
11. In March 2020, the Council failed to collect Mr X’s black bins three times. On two of those occasions, Mr X was the only person on his street whose bins were not emptied.

2021

12. In 2021, the Council failed to collect either black or green bins from Mr X’s street on 14 occasions. On five of those occasions the Council collected the bins from the other houses on the street but not from Mr X’s house.

2022

13. In 2022, the Council failed to collect either black or green bins from Mr X’s street on 10 occasions. On three of those occasions, Mr X’s bins were the only ones left unemptied.
14. The Council acknowledges that Mr X has not received the level of service he should expect. It also accepts that it has not rectified the problem in a timely manner and offers its apologies to Mr X for this.
15. In complaint correspondence with Mr X, the Council said twice, that an officer, Officer B, would monitor Mr X’s bin collections to ensure he received assisted collections. The records show that Officer B had concerns about what he described as a “…pattern of failure in collections”.
16. The records also show that Officer B considered it was not always possible to collect the bins on Mr X’s street because of a problem with access for the lorry.
17. The Council has not explained why the bins were sometimes collected from Mr X’s Street but not from Mr X’s house.
18. It has not kept adequate records of any monitoring that was completed.

Analysis

19. It is positive that the Council has acknowledged that it is at fault. However, it has twice apologised to Mr X before for failures to collect his bins and yet the failings continued to occur.
20. The Council cannot say why it repeatedly failed to collect Mr X’s bins on occasions where it collected from other houses on his street. In any case, since it was acknowledged that there was a problem, the Council should have made sure the issue was addressed effectively.
21. To address the problem, the Council says it will:

• Implement further written monitoring via the crew task sheet: Waste removal crews will be asked to confirm in writing that they have successfully made the assisted collection at Mr X’s property.
• Put further monitoring in place: the team leader will meet the crew on site to record any vehicle obstructions and, where possible, try to arrange for vehicles to be removed.

22. The Council says it has also included, within its staff appraisal process, an objective on the importance of assisted collections, setting out the expectations it has for its staff.
23. We welcome these steps. However, as monitoring has not worked previously, we make further recommendations to acknowledge the fault and injustice, as set out below.

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Agreed action

24. Within one month of our final decision, the Council should:
1. Provide evidence to the Ombudsman of the further written monitoring it has offered. It should undertake to continue monitoring for a period of six months. It should provide photographs showing Mr X’s bins have been emptied. It should also provide photographs of any access issues and provide further evidence of the steps it has taken to deal with any issues.
2. Pay Mr X the sum of £300 to acknowledge the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures.

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Final decision

25. I have found the Council at fault and made recommendations to acknowledge the injustice caused by that fault. I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman