Summary: Mr X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste and recycling as scheduled, or in a timely manner when collections are missed. We found the Council’s failure to collect Mr X’s waste as scheduled is fault. This fault caused Mr X inconvenience, frustration and disappointment. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste and recycling as scheduled, or in a timely manner when collections are missed. As the missed collections affect the whole street Mr X says this leads to an unsightly accumulation of waste on the street which attracts rodents.

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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 considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments 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. 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.
9. In January 2025 collection crews began industrial action. This began with specific strike days each week when waste would not be collected. Then from 11 March 2025 it became an all-out strike. The Council suspended recycling collections when industrial action began and then declared a major incident on 31 March 2025 to address the impact of the industrial action.

What happened here

10. Mr X complains that since June 2024 the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his own and his neighbours’ household waste and recycling as scheduled.
11. According to the Council’s records Mr X reported fourteen missed household waste collections and two missed recycling collections between June 2024 and February 2025. Mr X’s neighbours have also reported a similar number of missed collections over the same period. The records note that all of these missed collections were due to the round being dropped due to staffing or vehicle issues, or the crew running out of time.
12. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council always made the collections in a timely manner.
13. For example, Mr X reported missed collections on 13, 20 and 27 November 2024. The records show the Council did not close these reports until 10 January 2025. It is unclear why these reports were not closed following scheduled collections in December 2024.
14. In September 2024 Mr X made a formal complaint about the missed collections affecting the whole street. The Council responded on 17 September 2024 and apologised for the poor level of service. It explained it had been experiencing some localised disruption which had resulted in a number of missed collections around the city. This was due to operational issues which the Council was working hard to resolve.
15. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and on 25 September he asked the Council to reopen his complaint. He also copied his local Councillor and MP into his correspondence and asked them to intervene on his behalf.
16. Mr X continued to report missed collections and noted that while around half the missed collections were made the following day, many were not and they had to wait until the following week. On 15 November 2024 Mr X chased the Council for a response to his complaint.
17. The Council responded on 19 November 2024. This response was identical to that of 17 September 2024. The Council then reviewed Mr X’s complaint at stage two of its complaint process and responded on 2 December 2024.
18. It apologised that the problem remained unresolved and noted the missed collection on 27 November 2024 was collected the next day. The Council explained it was experiencing high levels of vehicle breakdowns which along with restructuring of routes and staffing issues had impacted on collections. It said it was working hard to resolve the issues and other depots were helping to catch up.
19. As there have been further missed collections, Mr X has asked us to investigate his concerns. In response to our enquiries the Council says the main cause for the repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste and recycling was the operational issues the depot was facing. These operational issues included vehicle or staffing issues which were out of the Council’s control.
20. The Council noted that when it dropped Mr X’s road, it then collected the waste the following day 50% of the time and the rest were collected by the next collection date.
21. The Council has a process for responding to and monitoring missed collections. It will check the property history to ensure it is not a repeated missed address. If there are repeated missed collections this will be raised with an Assistant Manager so that they can talk to the crew to find out the cause of the missed collections. The depot will also prepare a reminder for the crew pack provided to the crew for the next scheduled collection date. Where there is staff and vehicle availability the Assistant Manager will also schedule a crew to collect the missed collection.
22. The Council says this process is not currently taking place due to the industrial action. Monitoring will recommence when the industrial action has ended. It says it is currently unable to address the operational issues that have led to the dropped rounds due to the industrial action.

Analysis

23. It is clear from the information available that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect Mr X and his neighbours’ waste since July 2024. These failings in service amount to fault.
24. Given the inconsistencies in the Council’s records I do not consider them to be a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when the Council actually collected the waste.
25. The current industrial action will inevitably have exacerbated the problem. The industrial action also means the Council cannot currently speak to the collection crews or take action to address the problem.
26. However, the problem of missed collections clearly predates any industrial action and I would have expected the Council to have identified the issue and taken action to address it sooner. I recognise the Council has had operational difficulties with staffing issues and vehicle breakdowns, but this has been the case for a number of years. Given the apparent regularity with which Mr X’s road is dropped I would have expected the Council investigate whether this road was particularly affected and to take action to address this.
27. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. Mr X has repeatedly had to manage his own uncollected household waste and recycling. In addition, as the missed collections affect the whole street he has also had to endure large amounts of uncollected waste on his street, over a sustained period of time.
28. He has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mr X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
29. I consider the Council should apologise and make a symbolic payment to recognise the injustice caused to Mr X.
30. Given the current industrial action is it not appropriate to make recommendations regarding service improvements.

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Action

31. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £150 to recognise the frustration, and difficulties the failure to make regular recycling collections over a sustained period has caused.
32. 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 in my findings.
33. 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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Decision

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

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman