London Borough of Lambeth (24 011 707)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s waste collection service. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- Ms X complains about the Council’s response to her complaints about its waste collection service over a number of months. She says she reported missed collections, filed complaints about bins and food waste not being picked up and that the response to her complaints was dismissive.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s response to the complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We are funded by the public purse and have an obligation to use the funds allocated to us in an effective, efficient and economic manner.
- This means that we will generally not investigate complaints where an investigation is unlikely to usefully add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a significantly different outcome.
- Ms X has confirmed that since she has been placed on the monitored collection list by the Council she has not had any further issues. While her dissatisfaction with the Council’s performance prior to this time is noted, there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman