Summary: Mr X complained the Council’s waste contractors failed to provide a consistent bin collection over several years. Mr X says this caused him frustration and he has been put to time and trouble to complain. There was fault in the way the Council failed to ensure Mr X’s bins were collected. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay £150 for the frustration and the time and trouble to complain.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council’s waste contractors failed to provide a consistent bin collection over several years. Mr X says this caused him frustration and he has been put to time and trouble to complain.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated Mr X’s complaint about missed bin collections for the 12 months prior to his complaint. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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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 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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mr X’s complaint.
7. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
8. 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

Background information

9. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
10. Mr X uses a communal bin. The Council's practice is to collect recycling and household waste every week.
11. The Council’s published performance standards confirmed if a bin is not collected, the collection needs to be completed within three working days.

What happened

12. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
13. Mr X said he contacted the Council several times from 2016 to the end of 2021 about multiple missed bin collections. Mr X said the Council assured him the collections would be monitored and improve but he continued to have missed collections.
14. Mr X contacted the Council in April 2022 to report it had not collected his rubbish bin and recycling bin. The Council stated its contractor collected the bins five working days after being notified.
15. Mr X contacted the Council in May 2022 to report it had not collected his rubbish bin. The bin was collected the following working day.
16. Mr X contacted the Council in June 2022 to report it had not collected his rubbish bin. The bin was collected the following working day.
17. Mr X contacted the Council in July 2022 to report it had not collected his rubbish bin. The bin was collected four working days later.
18. Mr X contacted the Council in August 2022 to report it had not collected his rubbish bin. The bin was collected three working days later.
19. Mr X complained to the Council in mid-August 2022. He stated the missed bin collections had been going on for years. He stated he wanted the Council to take action to resolve the situation and discipline the contractor’s workers.
20. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint at the end of August 2022. The Council stated it had raised the issue with its contractor, who would monitor the collections over the following weeks.
21. Mr X asked the Council to escalate his complaint to stage two. The Council responded at the start of October. It stated the original complaint handling was handled correctly. The contractor did not give any reason why it missed the collection. The Council ensured it would continue to monitor the situation.
22. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mr X would like the Council to penalise staff for not collecting his bin, provide evidence for why bin collections were missed and compensate him for his time.
23. In response to my enquiries the Council stated its contractor had identified the collection crew had been marking the bin as collected incorrectly. This meant no reason for missed collection was recorded. The contractor provided its staff with further training and added the location to the daily check list. The Council stated no bin collections have been missed since August 2022.

My findings

24. When a Council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf, it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them.
25. Mr X reported six missed bin collections in five months. The Council was aware of the missed collections but failed to collect the bins within the time detailed in the published performance standards on three occasions. I am also aware Mr X claims the Council missed multiple collections prior to October 2021.
26. If the Council had appropriately monitored the collections, the errors could have been identified and rectified sooner.
27. It is clear the Council has failed on many occasions to collect the waste from Mr X’s block of flats within the appropriate time. This is fault and has caused Mr X an injustice.
28. The contractor says it has identified necessary service improvements since Mr X’s complaint, including providing training to collection crews about recording missed collections. The Council has not reported any further missed collections. I am satisfied with the actions taken to resolve the situation.

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Agreed action

29. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mr X by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mr X for failing to ensure his bins were collected as they should have been.
• Pay Mr X £150 as an acknowledgement of the frustration and the time and trouble he has spent pursuing this complaint.
30. The Council should provide evidence of the actions taken to satisfy the recommendations.

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Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Mr X.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

32. I have not investigated any missed collections prior to October 2021. This is because there is no reason Mr X could not have complained to us about these matters sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman