Summary: Mr X complained the Council’s waste collections are unreliable, there is poor communication between departments, and it ignored his freedom of information request. Mr X said he had to go to the tip because his waste was not collected. He said it caused stress and anxiety, and there are now issues with rats and fruit flies. We find the Council at fault and this caused injustice. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council’s waste collections are unreliable, there is poor communication between departments, and it ignored his freedom of information request.
2. Mr X said he had to go to the tip because his waste was not collected. He said it caused stress and anxiety, and there are now issues with rats and fruit flies.

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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)
5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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What I have and have not investigated

8. Mr X complained the Council ignored his freedom of information request.
9. As I have said above, we normally consider it reasonable to expect complainants to complain to the Information Commissioner about these matters. For this reason, I have not investigated this part of Mr X’s complaint.
10. Regarding the missed bin collections, Mr X said he had been complaining about missed collections for months before he formally complained in January 2024.
11. As I said above, we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
12. Mr X complained to us in November 2024. I consider reasonable opportunities existed for Mr X to have complained to us before then. I find no good reasons to exercise our discretion and look back further than 12 months before Mr X complained to us.
13. Therefore, I have investigated the missed bin collections from September 2023 to September 2024.

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How I considered this complaint

14. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments received before I reached a final decision.
15. I considered the relevant legislation, set out below. I also considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

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What I found

What should have happened

16. 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.

What happened

17. Between November and December 2023, Mr X reported 4 missed bin collections (recycling and rubbish). In January 2024, Mr X called the Council to complain about missed collections.
18. Later in January, he reported another missed collection and called again to complain.
19. In March, Mr X reported another two missed collections and told the Council it was not returning his phone calls.
20. In April, Mr X called again about missed collections. He was told a manager would call him back. The manager called him back the same day. The manager apologised for the lack of service. They said they would speak to collection crews, issue written instructions, and monitor future collections.
21. The manager also said they would consider a collection point for residents because some of the missed collections were due to access issues.
22. Mr X reported another 5 missed collections.
23. In May, the Council replied to Mr X’s complaint again. It again apologised for the lack of service. The Council said the manager would speak to collection crews again, provide further written instructions, and continue to monitor future collections.
24. Between May and September, Mr X reported another eight missed collections. He asked the Council to call him back three times.

Analysis

Unreliable waste collections

25. Mr X complained the waste collections are unreliable.
26. In its complaint responses, the Council accepted there had been a lack of service.
27. The Council’s evidence shows that between September 2023 and September 2024, Mr X reported missed 19 bin collections. This is made up of nine rubbish bin collections, and a combination of ten different recycling collections. This is fault.
28. I find this fault caused Mr X injustice because it caused unnecessary and avoidable distress, frustration, and uncertainty.
29. I am satisfied the Council has apologised for the poor service. I am satisfied the Council did what it said it would do in its complaint responses. The Council issued written instructions to crews, monitored collections, and assessed whether to introduce a collection point. It decided not to, and this is a decision the Council is entitled to make.
30. However, the fact remains that Mr X’s bins were repeatedly not collected. I have not been able to determine the reason for this. It appears the Council has done what it can to make sure the bins are collected.
31. Mr X said residents can only report a missed bin collection until 1pm the next day.
32. The Council said if a missed collection is reported by 1pm the next day, it can return the following day and collect that bin. It said residents can still report missed collections outside that time.
33. Mr X does not agree with this. He said the Council’s online service does not allow residents to report missed collections online after 1pm the next day. He said when he called customer services about it, he got “fobbed off”.

Poor communication between departments

34. Mr X said he called customer services to complain about missed collections and to ask for call backs. He said he was told a manager would call him back, but he only got one call back in April 2024.
35. Mr X said there is no way to speak to the waste department directly. Residents have to call customer services and ask for a call back.
36. The Council’s evidence shows Mr X called to complain and ask for a call back five times before it called him back. Mr X then asked for four more call backs. There is no evidence the Council called him back on any of these occasions. I note that three of these requests for callbacks were after the Council’s second complaint response.
37. I find the Council communicated poorly with Mr X. I cannot say whether it was the customer service team failing to pass call back requests to the waste department, or the waste department failing to call Mr X. It is fault in any event.
38. I find this fault caused Mr X injustice because it caused him unnecessary and avoidable distress, frustration, and uncertainty.

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Action

39. Within four weeks of this decision, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X in writing for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by its poor communication.
40. Within four weeks of this decision, the Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr X of £500. This is made up as follows:
• £300 to remedy the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by multiple failures to collect Mr X’s bins even after the Council put systems in place to stop this happening. Our guidance on remedies suggests a maximum of £500 for distress. In arriving at this figure, I have taken into account the level of frustration and distress, and the action the Council promised which did not resolve the problem; and,
• £200 to remedy the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council’s poor communication. In arriving at this figure, I have taken into account the level of frustration and distress, and the amount of time Mr X called over a year without much, if any, reply;
41. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

42. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman