Summary: Mr F complains about missed collections from a garden waste service the Council provides. The Ombudsman upholds the complaint. But the Council has apologised and advised of changes to its service. So we do not see the need for any extra recommendations.

The complaint

1. My summary of this complaint is that the Council has repeatedly missed the complainant’s (whom I shall refer to as Mr F) garden waste collections, from around May 2022 onwards. He says this has led to uncertainty, frustration and time and trouble in reporting the missed collections. In September, the Council said it would monitor the collections, but the problem continued.
2. In making the complaint, Mr F said what he wanted was to get the service the Council said it would provide.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’.
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. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr F;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered its response;
• spoken to Mr F;
• sent my draft decision to Mr F and the Council and considered the response I received.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

6. The Council offers a garden waste collection service to residents. It charges a fee for this discretionary service.
7. As many councils do, the Council uses a contractor to provide its waste and recycling services. In such cases the council retains ultimate responsibility for ensuring the quality of the service and being accountable if things go wrong. The contractor may at first respond to reports of problems or complaints but the council retains ownership.

What happened

8. From May 2022 Mr F logged several missed collections for his garden waste. As the problems persisted, Mr F complained.
9. The Council’s contractor responded to the complaint. It advised there had been several reasons for disruption over the past months, including staff illness, vehicle breakdown, and delays at the waste transfer site. It recognised Mr F’s inconvenience from its unacceptable lack of service and apologised. It advised a supervisor would monitor his collections for a period.
10. A few months later Mr F noted another missed collection. The contractor again advised it would monitor the collections.
11. The Council wrote to Mr F. It noted its website had advertised the wrong collection day for the garden waste collection in his area. It had amended this. It also noted its contractor was sometimes not collecting the garden waste on the scheduled day. It noted its provision was going through a review to streamline the service and equalise some anomalies. It hoped that would provide a more efficient and reliable service.
12. Mr F had to contact the Council again as he had further missed collections. He complained to the Ombudsman.
13. Since his complaint, Mr F says the Council has sent him an update on collection dates and other details about new services in 2023. He advises he cannot say whether these are now working, as he does not need to use the garden waste service over the winter. But he was happy for the Ombudsman to finish our investigation at this time.
14. In response to my draft decision, the Council advised:
• it now had a closer working relationship with its contractor and hoped to improve residents’ customer service experience;
• a new team had identified imbalances and inefficiencies in its Garden Waste Service and had undertaken a large rebalancing exercise;
• it planned to introduce an extra round; and
• since the changes the complaints it received had fallen.

Analysis

15. Missed collections happen. But councils should make it easy for people to report missed collections and have clear information about how and when the missed collection will be dealt with.
16. Mr F’s complaint shows there have been failings in the Council’s service, which amount to fault. The Council and its contractors responded appropriately in giving instructions to the crews and then monitoring the service. It also apologised. But Mr F then had to report further missed collections.
17. In response to Mr F’s complaint, the Council told him about a review. Mr F reports the Council had advised him of changes to the service. The Council has provided more information about this in its response to my draft decision. So I do not see a need, at this time, for any service improvement recommendation, as there is the possibility the collections service will improve in 2023.

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Final decision

18. I uphold this complaint. As the Council has already apologised and advised of changes to its service, I do not see the need for any further recommendation. So I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman