Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to empty her bins. This is because the injustice Ms X claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council failed to empty her bins for several weeks despite her reporting the missed collections. She says she was unable to open her windows due to the smell and presence of flies and that birds, cats and foxes pulled rubbish out of the bins, causing further mess. She also says she had to dispose of some rubbish herself and kept some items in her house or in the freezer until she could get rid of them and she wants compensation for this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
5. I understand Ms X is unhappy about the Council’s failure to empty her bins but the period she refers to was relatively short- approximately seven weeks- and the issue is not ongoing. I appreciate Ms X suffered some injustice as a result of the Council’s failure to empty her bins but I do not consider this to be significant enough to warrant further investigation or a financial remedy.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Ms X claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman