Summary: Miss X complained the Council did not collect her household waste on multiple occasions even though she had been accepted for assisted collections. The Council has already apologised for this fault and offered Miss X a financial remedy which she accepted. We found additional fault with the Council’s communication and complaint handling. This will have caused Miss X frustration and distress. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, we recommend the Council offer a further apology and review some of its procedures.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to collect her household and recycling waste on multiple occasions after she was added to its assisted collection service in March 2024. Miss X also complains the Council did not properly investigate her complaints about the matter.
2. Miss X says this has caused her distress and frustration and that the missed collections had a significant impact on her health and household.

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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. I have considered all the information Miss X provided and discussed this complaint with her. I have also considered information provided by the Council.
6. Miss X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken any comments received into consideration before reaching my final decision.

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What I found

Household waste and recycling collections

7. 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.
8. Councils normally expect people to move their bins to the pavement in front of their property, to allow it to be easily collected. However, a council may decide to provide an assisted collection to a person if they are unable to move their bins because of a disability. Under an assisted collection, the crew enter the property boundary, such as a garden or driveway, to collect the bins. They then return them to their storage point afterwards.

The Council’s assisted collection policy

9. The Council has a policy which sets out who may be eligible for an assisted collection. The policy explains how the process works and that waste will be collected from an agreed point within the property boundary.

What happened

10. I have set out below a summary of the key events. This is not meant to show everything that happened.
11. Miss X applied to join the Council’s assisted waste collection service due to her health needs. This was agreed and set up on the Council’s systems on 10 March 2024.
12. The Council sent Miss X a confirmation email of this on 14 March 2024. The email showed a ‘service start date’ of 10 March 2024.
13. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s household waste on 16 March 2024. She reported this to the Council. The waste was collected on 21 March.
14. Miss X called the Council on 22 March 2024. The Council advised Miss X her assisted collections were not due to start until that day which is why waste was missed the week before. Miss X advised the Council where to collect her waste from containers set out at the property.
15. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s household waste on 2 April 2024. Miss X reported this to the Council. The waste was collected on 8 April 2024.
16. Miss X logged a complaint on 29 April 2024. She said she had only had one collection in the last seven weeks. She said this was only after she had called the Council about it and had reported missed collections.
17. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s household waste on 3 May 2024. Miss X says the Council came to her property to collect the missed waste the following week but did not open the bin store, so the waste was not collected. She called the Council to report this on 7 May 2024.
18. The Council sent its stage one complaint response on 8 May 2024. It apologised for the missed assisted collections. It said the case had been escalated to a waste services supervisor to stop future missed collections happening.
19. The Council failed to collect Miss X’s household waste on 24 May 2024. Miss X called the Council to complain on 30 May 2024. She said she was continuing to have problems with her assisted waste collection. The Council viewed the call as a stage two complaint request.
20. The Council sent its stage two response on 11 June 2024. The Council again apologised. It said the supervisor had reminded collection crews and the crews now had the relevant paperwork to ensure collections would happen. It upheld her complaint and signposted her to the Ombudsman. Remaining waste was collected on 10 and 12 June 2024.
21. Miss X has confirmed collections are much more regular and she has not had any other issues since.
22. In response to my enquiries on this complaint, the Council offered Miss X a written apology and £150. This was to reflect the ‘avoidable inconvenience and frustration’ due to the missed collections. Miss X has confirmed she accepted the Council’s proposed remedy. The apology did not address complaint handling concerns.

Analysis

Missed collections

23. Miss X complained that she was never told collections would take a certain amount of time to begin after she had been accepted for its assisted collection service. She also says that when she called the Council to say the assisted collections had not started it said it would take around 10 days to organise them.
24. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it was unsure why Miss X was told it would take 10 days. It also said an email would be sent to the resident to confirm when their assisted collections would begin.
25. Evidence shows the Council’s confirmation email and telephone contact centre gave conflicting information. The email sent on 14 March 2024 stated the collection service start date was 10 March. Miss X understandably assumed the collections were starting straight away. The Council’s contact centre then said they were starting on the 22 March.
26. I am satisfied giving this conflicting information is fault. It would have caused Miss X distress and frustration. However, I am also satisfied, in the circumstances of this complaint, the payment and apology already accepted remedy any injustice caused. I have made a service improvement recommendation below regarding the confirmation emails and ensuring contact centre staff are aware of the timescales and procedures involved.
27. The Council confirmed that it has changed its procedures to ensure assisted collection paperwork is placed in folders for collection crews to check each day. I will therefore make no further recommendation for this aspect.
28. Miss X has confirmed the issues have stopped. I will therefore make no recommendation linked to monitoring of her assisted collections.

Complaint handling

29. Miss X complained the Council said it would contact her to discuss her complaint but that she received a stage one response without this happening.
30. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it had since changed the way it dealt with its stage one complaints. It said all residents who complain and provide contact details would now automatically be contacted via the telephone before the complaint was investigated at stage one.
31. In response to my draft decision, the Council advised the information in its enquiry response had been incorrect. It confirmed it was not standard practice to call all stage one complainants and would only do so if it needed to.
32. The Council said it would advise all telephone contact centre staff of the correct procedures to share with callers. I have made a recommendation below to ensure the correct information is shared with other callers in future to avoid potential injustice.
33. The Council signposted Miss X to both the Housing Ombudsman and to us when it sent her stage one complaint response letter.
34. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it has since changed its complaint response templates so that this issue will not happen again. Sending Miss X incorrect information was fault and would have caused her frustration and distress. I have made a recommendation below to remedy this injustice.

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Agreed action

35. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of the date of my final decision:
• apologise for the injustice caused by being signposted to two different Ombudsman organisations in its written response;
• review its assisted collection confirmation email template to ensure it is clear to the householder when the assisted collections from their home will start;
• remind relevant telephone contact centre staff of the correct procedure for its corporate complaint handling process; and
• share relevant information with contact centre staff and managers to ensure they are aware of the assisted collection confirmation process and timescales. This will help to ensure they are able to explain this to residents calling in.
36. The apology written should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies on making an effective apology.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

38. I have now completed my investigation. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman