Summary: Miss X complained that although she should receive an assisted collection service, the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling as scheduled, despite collecting her neighbours waste. We find the Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections, and to return Miss X’s bin correctly is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X complained that although she should receive an assisted collection service, the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling as scheduled, despite collecting her neighbours waste.
2. Miss X also complains that when her household waste and recycling is collected her bins are not aways returned correctly to her property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection of household waste and recycling from properties in its 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 practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
9. When a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.

What happened here

10. Miss X says the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled day despite collecting her neighbours’ waste. Miss X should receive assisted collections and feels the Council’s failure to collect her waste is direct disability discrimination.
11. According to the Council’s records, Miss X reported nine missed household waste collections and five missed recycling collections between September 2023 and June 2024. The majority of the reports are closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. The Council’s records also note that four of the reported missed household waste collections affected Miss X’s whole street and were due to access, staffing or vehicle issues.
12. Miss X also made a formal complaint in November 2023. She complained that although she should have assisted collections her bin is regularly missed. Miss X ensures her bin is visible from the road but cannot move it to the kerb unassisted. She complained that when she tried to report the latest missed collection the Council’s system wrongly said her bin was not presented for collection. Miss X asked the Council to explain how it would resolve the problem.
13. The Council’s response apologised for the poor level of service Miss X had received. It said the relevant manager was aware of the issues and the crew had been reminded to ensure collections were made as scheduled. The Council anticipated this would improve the service.
14. As the service did not improve Miss X contacted the Council again in February 2024. She was unhappy the Council had not addressed her complaint that its system falsely recorded that her bin was not out for collection. And said her bins had not been collected for the last three weeks when her neighbours’ had. Miss X was concerned she was not receiving the same service as her non-disabled neighbours and asked for her complaint to be escalated.
15. The Council told Miss X it was checking with the depot why her collections were not being made. It said the error stating the bin was not out was a technical issue with the on board computer. And that crews had a list of the assisted collections and should use this to make the collections. The Council said it would contact Miss X again when it had received a response.
16. Miss X contacted the Council again in early March 2024 as her assisted collection had been missed again. She also complained that her neighbours’ empty bins had been left blocking her drive. Miss X again asked for her complaint to be escalated.
17. The following week Miss X complained that her bin had been collected from her house but not returned. Miss X said she did not know where the bin was and was not well enough to go hunting for it. She reiterated her request for her complaint to be escalated.
18. The Council reviewed Miss X’s complaint and responded on 11 April 2024. It again apologised for the poor level of service. The Council noted it had yet to action the missed collection reported on 4 April 2024 and that the collection scheduled for that day had not been completed for the whole road due to operational issues. It said the waste would be collected as soon as resources were available.
19. The Council also said the manager had again been made aware of the issues and the crews had been provided with additional reminders to ensure collections were made as scheduled.
20. As this did not resolve the problem and there were further missed collections, Miss X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns. In early May 2024 Miss X said her recycling had not been collected for over two months. She says she has had to buy stainless steel bins to store the uncollected waste in her garden and has recycling piling up in her kitchen.
21. Miss X says it is stressful and physically difficult for her to move her bins to the path where they can be seen from the road only to have to move them back again still full.
22. In response to my enquiries the Council says there are two main ways it notifies collection crews of assisted collections on their routes. Firstly, assisted collections are shown on the crew’s tablets, and secondly, in case of technical issues with the tablet, the depot produces a hard copy of the assisted collection list which it gives to each crew. The Council has confirmed that Miss X’s address is highlighted on both as an assisted collection.
23. The Council has a process for responding to and monitoring missed collections. When the depot receives a report of missed collections it will check whether this is a repeated missed address. If it is, an Assistant Manager will speak with the crew to find the cause of the issue with the collection. The depot will also prepare a reminder for the crew pack for the next scheduled collection. Where there is staff and vehicle availability the Assistant Manager will schedule a crew to collect the missed collection.
24. The Council has not monitored Miss X’s collections. It says there are two reasons why the Council has been unable to collect Miss X’s household waste and recycling in the last 12 months. The first is that the depot had had to drop the round on four separate occasions due to access issues, staffing and vehicle issues.
25. When a whole road is dropped the Council says it aims to collect the dropped road by the next collection date if there is staff and vehicle availability. Where this is not possible the extra waste will be collected at the next collection date.
26. The second explanation for the missed collections is general staffing resource issues at the depot. The Council says collections are not done by a set crew each week, but rather by spare crews. It says that sometimes crews can accidentally miss assisted collections especially if they have been asked to help out collections that do not fall in their usual round due to them being unfamiliar with the area.
27. The Council says the depot has now redesigned the rounds to ensure collections are done by a set crew each week unless they are on holiday or off sick. The Council also plans to purchase new vehicles to reduce the number of breakdowns.

Analysis

28. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Miss X’s household waste and recycling. These failings in the assisted collection service amount to fault.
29. The Council’s records show the missed collections were all subsequently collected, most before the next scheduled collection. However there are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Miss X’s complaints also refer to consecutive missed collections and waiting weeks and months for the Council to make collections.
30. For example when Miss X reported a missed collection on 25 January 2024 she told the Council the collection had been missed for two weeks running. The Council closed this report on 31 January 2024, but when Miss X reported a missed collection on 1 February 2024 she said it had now been three weeks without a collection. This would suggest Miss X’s waste was not collected on 31 January 2024.
31. I do not consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the problem, or when it actually collected the recycling. It is concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when it had not collected the waste.
32. I recognise the Council may have staffing resource issues, but that does not necessarily explain why Miss X’s bins are regularly missed when the rest of the street are collected. Or why her bins are not returned to her property when empty. The Council has confirmed Miss X is registered for assisted collections. All collection crews, whether they are the regular crew or a replacement crew, are provided with details of assisted collections on the route. It should therefore be clear to all crews which properties require assisted collections and what this involves.
33. If the Council’s current system for ensuring crews are aware of and can locate properties with assisted collections their rounds is not effective, the Council should take action to address this.
34. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Miss X a significant injustice. Miss X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste and recycling left at her property. She is unable to dispose of the uncollected waste herself and has had to wait until family visit to assist her. It is also physically difficult for Miss X to move her bins so that they are visible to the crews on collection day. Having to move them back, still full adds to this difficulty and causes Miss X unnecessary stress.
35. Miss X has also experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her complaints and repeatedly reporting the missed collections they have continued. Miss X has also been put to time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

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Agreed action

36. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £250 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.
37. The Council has also agreed to monitor Miss X’s household waste and recycling collections for eight weeks to ensure the assisted collections are carried out properly and the bins are returned to the collection point
38. The Council should take this action within eight weeks of the final decision on this complaint and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

39. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections, and to return Miss X’s bin correctly is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman