Birmingham City Council (22 002 457)

Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 13 Sep 2022

Overview:

Key to names used

  • Mrs X The complainant
  • Mrs Y The complainant
  • Ms Z The complainant

Summary

The complainants are registered for assisted collections. They all complained the Council has repeatedly failed to correctly return their bins to the storage points after emptying them. We have previously investigated complaints from all three complainants. The Council failed to demonstrate the action it was taking in response to the recommendations we made was effective in resolving the issues identified. There remains evidence of significant systemic issues within the Council’s waste department. These have been ongoing for several years. All these factors helped inform our decision to issue this report to further highlight the problems being experienced by these three complainants and many other residents in the city.

Finding

Fault found causing injustice and recommendations made.

Recommendations

The Council must consider the report and confirm within three months the action it has taken or proposes to take. The Council should consider the report at its full Council, Cabinet or other appropriately delegated committee of elected members and we will require evidence of this. (Local Government Act 1974, section 31(2), as amended).

To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified in this report, we recommend the Council should:

  • apologise to each of the complainants for the ongoing failings in service;

  • pay Mrs X £200 to recognise the frustration and difficulties the fault identified has caused her;

  • pay Mrs Y £200 to recognise the frustration and difficulties the fault identified has caused her;

  • pay Ms Z £200 to recognise the frustration and difficulties the fault identified has caused her;

  • review its waste collection monitoring arrangements to ensure they are robust and effective in identifying and resolving any problems and in improving service levels. This review and its findings should be reported directly to the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council and should be considered by the most appropriate committee of elected members; and

  • produce an action plan to identify ways of improving its staff performance. This should include a timeframe for any action. This action plan should be reported directly to the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council and should be considered by the most appropriate committee of elected members.

The Council has accepted our recommendations to remedy these complaints.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 11 April 2023

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings