Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to a query Mr X had about reporting missed bin collections. This is because the Council has now replied to Mr X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says while the Council explained why it had failed to collect his bins for a period of time, it did not address his concern that he was unable to report missed bin collections if the Council’s contractor had recorded an issue, in some cases inaccurately.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about missed bin collections and part of his complaint concerned his inability to record a missed bin collection on the Council’s reporting system if the Council’s contractors had already recorded an issue, sometimes inaccurately.
6. While the Council responded to part of the complaint, it did not address Mr X’s inability to record missed collections in the circumstances he described. However, following our enquiry, the Council has now explained to Mr X that it has changed its online system to allow residents to report a missed collection in such instances and that the contractor has retrained staff to improve their recording accuracy.
7. As the Council has now responded to Mr X and addressed his outstanding query, we will not investigate the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has now replied to him.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman