Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council requiring residents to pay for its garden waste collection service by direct debit. This is because the matter has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains that residents who use the Council’s garden waste collection service are required to pay by direct debit.

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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)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained that residents who choose to use the Council’s garden waste collection service are required to pay for the service via direct debit. Mr X says he is not aware of any law that enables the Council to force this payment method on residents.
7. The Council said it changed from individual payments to direct debit for this elective service in 2017. This was put in place to reduce the administrative burden of the service which keeps the cost as low as it can be for residents who choose to use the service. It said other options were available for garden waste collection or disposal should a customer choose not to use its service.
8. This is not a matter we will investigate. This is because it has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is significant enough to warrant an investigation by this office. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We must focus our limited public resources on those complaints where a person has suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of alleged fault by the Council.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the matter has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to merit an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman