Summary: Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to complete her assisted bin collection as agreed. The Council was at fault which caused Miss X frustration and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise and carry out monitoring to ensure it completes Miss X’s collections in future.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to complete her assisted bin collection as agreed. She says this is discrimination and has caused her prolonged distress as she cannot move the bin herself. She wants the Council to ensure it regularly collects the bin as agreed and to recognise the impact incomplete collections have on her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. I have discussed the complaint with Miss X and considered the information she provided. I also considered information provided by the Council.
5. Miss X and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Assisted bin collections

6. 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.
7. The Council provides an assisted bin collection service for residents who are frail, elderly, disabled or incapacitated where there are no able-bodied residents to move their bins to the roadside.
8. The Council reviews its assisted collections every 18 months. It sends a letter to households receiving the service asking them to confirm if they still need assistance.

What happened

9. The Council assessed Miss X for an assisted bin collection in 2020. It decided hand bins would be the most suitable for Miss X’s property due to the steps from her property to the street. Miss X said she would prefer a wheelie bin. The Council agreed to a trial period with a wheelie bin, however it did not tell Miss X this was a trial, or review the trial at any point. It continued to collect Miss X’s wheelie bin from her property with an assisted collection.
10. In November 2023 Miss X contacted the Council to say its collection crews were leaving the bin blocking her steps. The Council placed a note on the crew monitoring task sheet asking them not to leave the bin blocking the steps.
11. On 27 November 2023 the Council sent Miss X a routine letter asking if she still needed her assisted collection. Miss X complained to the Council in December 2023. She said the letter was insulting. She complained crews were carrying bin bags across her garden rather than wheeling the bin, leaving the bin lid open, blocking her steps and leaving new bin bags on her garden gate.
12. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s bin on 11 January 2024. A team leader from the Council tried to visit Miss X on 12 January. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint on 15 January 2024. It apologised for the issues and said it had set a reminder on the crew task sheet. The Council’s records show it amended the monitoring task sheet to remind crews to specifically wheel the bin, close its lid and attach new liners to the bin. It clarified the letter was a routine one it sent to all residents who received an assisted collection.
13. Miss X escalated her complaint to stage 2 the next day. She said the Council was discriminating against her because of her disability. She was unhappy the Council visited her without warning.
14. On 16 January 2024 the Council, in error, deleted Miss X’s assisted collection from its system. On 13 February 2024 the Council failed to manually re-add Miss X’s property to its monitoring task sheet. It failed to collect Miss X’s bin on the same day.
15. The Council responded to Miss X’s stage two complaint on 22 February 2024. It explained that it considered hand bins a better solution for Miss X’s property but Miss X had refused them. It said it would actively monitor the collections but may have to replace the wheelie bins with hand bins if the issues continued. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman.
16. In April 2024 Council re-added Miss X’s assisted collection to its system.
17. In May 2024 the Council told us it had made a mistake when it failed to re-add Miss X’s property to its monitoring task sheet. It said it had told its crews what to do when they reached Miss X’s property. The Council’s records show it added Miss X back onto the monitoring task sheet, but with no specific instructions for the crews.
18. The Council emailed Miss X asking if it could visit her to discuss the situation. Miss X refused. The Council told Miss X her assisted collection via a wheeled bin would remain in place and she could get in touch if there were any further issues.
19. Miss X says crews failed to properly collect the waste on 4 June, 18 June, and 30 July 2024. She says crews continued to carry bin bags across the garden, rather than wheel the bin. The Council says all collections since 9 July have taken place as required.

My findings

20. The Council agreed a wheeled bin assisted collection for Miss X in 2020. While the Council says this was a trial, it accepts it failed to tell Miss X about the trial, or to formally review the trial. Having agreed the collection, the Council had a duty to ensure it was completed properly.
21. The Council mistakenly removed Miss X’s collection from its system in January 2024. While it corrected the mistake, it then failed to include the specific instructions for Miss X’s assisted collection in May 2024. This is fault and resulted in the Council either missing collections or failing to collect Miss X’s bins as agreed. This has caused Miss X distress and frustration.
22. The Council has confirmed it has now updated Miss X’s assisted collection. However, Miss X has continued to experience issues. This has caused her further distress and frustration as it remains uncertain whether the Council will continue to collect the bins as agreed.
23. Miss X complains the Council is discriminating against her. While the Council has repeatedly failed to complete her assisted collection as agreed, this is due to the fault identified. There is no evidence this is due to discrimination.

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Agreed action

24. Within one month of our final decision the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Miss X for the impact of it failing to repeatedly complete her assisted collection as agreed. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
2. Amend its monitoring task sheet to include specific instructions for Miss X’s assisted collection, which includes wheeling the bin to the refuse vehicle to be emptied. The Council should leave the instructions in place until it has completed six assisted collections and Miss X has confirmed they have been completed successfully.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

26. I have completed my investigation and find fault by the Council which caused injustice, which the Council has agreed to remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman