Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council on several occasions not fully emptying her waste bin. Investigation would not achieve a different outcome and the personal injustice caused by the matter complained of is not sufficiently significant to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that on several occasions the Council’s bin contractor has failed to properly empty her general waste bin. She says she is not receiving the waste collection service she is paying for and has had to deal with an unpleasant and unsanitary backlog of rubbish. Ms X wants the Council to empty the bins properly on a regular basis and if required, visit her property to ensure she is presenting her waste correctly in the bin.

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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 impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information from Ms X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. In response to Ms X’s complaint, the Council viewed video footage of one of the collections where some of her waste was left behind. Officers noted the bin lorry mechanism struggled to empty the bin after multiple attempts. The bin crew member saw the bin had not been fully emptied but did not reload it onto the lorry to make further attempts to remove the waste. The Council apologised to Ms X for this and confirmed they have asked their contractor to make second attempts to empty the bin in future. Officers also made various suggestions on how Ms X might prevent waste sticking in her bin. We understand Ms X experienced a further incident of her waste bin not being fully collected after the Council’s complaint process ended. But investigation of this matter would not add to the Council’s responses and actions. Were we to investigate, we would have sought an apology from the Council and for it to give instruction to its contractor on fully emptying bins. An investigation here would not achieve any different outcome to that which has been reached.
5. Even if there had not been this outcome, we would not investigate. We recognise Ms X’s waste not being fully collected on several occasions would cause annoyance and inconvenience to her in having to deal with the waste left behind. But the incidents do not cause such a sufficiently significant level of personal injustice to her which would warrant an investigation. We note Ms X says she is not receiving a service for which she has paid, which would be through her council tax. Council tax is a tax based on property value, not a fee paid to receive specific services. But in any event, the council tax money Ms X paid for the incomplete bin collections is a minimal sum and does not on its own, nor together with the annoyance and inconvenience, amount to significant personal injustice which would justify us investigating.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because:
• investigation would not achieve a different outcome; and
• the personal injustice caused by the matter complained of is not sufficiently significant to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman