Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to complete her assisted waste collection. The Council was at fault, which caused Miss X frustration and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, carry out monitoring of future collections, and formally record the details of Miss X’s collection.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council has failed to complete her assisted waste collection since November 2023. She says she has had to keep rubbish in her property and has been frustrated with the lack of response from the Council. She wants the Council to resolve the reasons for the missed collections and compensate her for the anger and frustration it has caused.

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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 considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Council’s waste 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’s main method of refuse collection is either a fortnightly wheelie bin collection or a weekly refuse bag collection for homes that cannot store a wheelie bin. It collects recycling separately every fortnight.
8. The Council’s policy is that it will aim to collect refuse and recycling on the scheduled day. If it misses a collection it will return to collect it.
9. The Council provides an assisted bin collection when a resident is physically unable to transport their wheelie bin, refuse bag or recycling to the front of their property and they do not have an able person living with them to assist them.

What happened

10. Miss X lives in a block of flats and receives an assisted bin collection from the Council. Miss X stores her bins at the back of the property. Collection crews must walk to the back of the property and take them to the collection vehicle.
11. In November 2023 the Council changed to a new collection system. Miss X reported a missed bin collection in December 2023. She went on to report four further missed collections and complained in January 2024. She said she had repeatedly reported missed collections to the Council but had no response. The Council said it would pass the matter to a supervisor who would arrange a collection. Miss X escalated her complaint to stage two.
12. Miss X reported four more missed collections in February and March 2024. On 15 March the Council’s Head of Waste Services apologised to Miss X and said its crews would collect the rubbish as normal the following Monday. The Council responded to Miss X’s stage two complaint on 18 March 2024. It said its services had been impacted by the changeover to a new collections system but its service was now recovering. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman.
13. In response to the Ombudsman’s enquiries the Council accepted it had repeatedly missed Miss X’s collection. It said this was due to the changeover in its systems. It said its regular collection crew knew the arrangements for collecting Miss X’s rubbish but the changeover in systems meant this had not been passed onto new collection crews.
14. It added that it had since recruited extra staff, bought and hired extra vehicles and ensured staff were focused on responding to reports and missed collections quickly. The Council said it had not missed any more of Miss X’s collections since 12 April 2024.
15. Miss X says the Council continued to miss collections. Two Council officers then visited Miss X in July 2024 to see where the bins were located. The Council has since collected the rubbish as expected.

My findings

16. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s household waste over several months and failed to return when Miss X reported the missed collections. As a result Miss X faced a period of avoidable frustration as she tried to get the Council to collect the waste. The impact of this was heightened due to Miss X needing an assisted collection.
17. The Council says it has since taken steps to address the issues behind the missed collections. However, it appears it still relies on the knowledge of local crews for Miss X’s collections, as opposed to robust record keeping. Despite saying the situation was resolved in April 2024, Miss X says the Council missed further collections and visited her again in July 2024 to confirm collection arrangements. This has left Miss X with a level of uncertainty over the reliability of future collections.

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Agreed action

18. Within one month of the final decision the Council has agreed to take the following action:
1. Apologise to Miss X for the impact of failing to repeatedly collect 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. Monitor Miss X’s next six collections to ensure they are collected successfully. The Council should confirm Miss X is satisfied with her collection before stopping monitoring the collections.
19. Within three months of the final decision the Council has agreed to take the following action:
1. Put measures in place to formally record the details of Miss X’s assisted collection to ensure collection crews are not reliant on the knowledge of individuals.
20. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

21. I have completed my investigation and found fault by the Council which caused injustice which the Council has agreed to remedy.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman