Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to consider the risks posed to her and her neighbours when it asked them to place their bins for collection in a location which was difficult to access for older and disabled residents. The Council was not at fault for how it made its decision to change the waste collections. However the Council failed to address Ms X’s concerns in its complaint response and this caused Ms X frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise and take action to improve its service.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to consider the risks posed to her and her neighbours when it asked residents to place their bins for collection partway down an unlit, uneven lane.
2. Ms X also complained the Council failed to inform her in a timely way about the changes.
3. Ms X said the Council’s actions caused her frustration and put her and her neighbours at risk of harm.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. 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

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council have an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. All comments received are considered before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

Waste collections

9. 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 and where they must be placed.

Assisted collections

10. 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 will enter the person’s property, such as their garden or driveway, to collect the bins, and then return them to their storage place afterwards.

Public sector equality duty

11. The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all.
12. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires all local authorities (and bodies acting on their behalf) to have due regard to the need to:
• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
13. The broad purpose of the Public Sector Equality Duty is to consider equality and good relations in the day-to-day business and decision making of public authorities. It requires equality considerations to be reflected into the design of policies and the delivery of services, including internal policies, and for these issues to be kept under review.

What happened

14. The Council made several changes to the way it collects waste in 2024 with the aim of making its collections more efficient and to support its climate change priorities.
15. In February 2024 the Council carried out an impact assessment of the entire project across the council area, where it considered its Public Sector Equality Duty by looking into how the changes may affect some protected groups, including disabled people and older people.
16. It found that its new waste collection strategy would have potentially positive as well as potentially negative impacts on these groups, mainly due to issues these people may face getting their bins to the collection points. It decided that the risk was mitigated by the fact the council offers assisted collections to eligible people.
17. Ms X lives in one of several properties which line a small lane. The residents used to leave their waste immediately outside each of their properties, along the lane, in bin bags. Due to the size of the lane, a small waste truck would collect their waste.
18. In late 2024, the Council decided to change the system so residents would instead place their waste bags into larger wheelie bins and all bins needed to be wheeled further along the lane to one single point for collection. By doing this, the Council said it was able to use one larger waste collection vehicle and this increased the amount of waste and recycling it could collect, increased the number of collections it could make in one journey and made its collection system more fuel and time efficient.
19. Ms X complained to the Council about the changes. She said the Council failed to inform her of the changes and she found out from a neighbour instead. Ms X also said the lane was unsafe for this purpose, as it was unlit with uneven ground and so was dangerous for her and her neighbours to wheel their bins along in the dark.
20. In response to Ms X’s complaint, the Council sent a letter to residents in November 2024 which further explained the new waste collection system. It said it would begin collections using the new system in December. Ms X complained again, repeating her concerns that the new system posed a risk to her and her neighbours. The Council responded and apologised for the inconvenience caused by not sending the letter sooner and explained why it had made the changes to the new collection system. It did not address Ms X’s safety concerns that she had raised.
21. Ms X was unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman. She said neither she or any other residents had come to harm but they were at risk and wanted the collections to return to the previous system.
22. As part of our investigation, the Council explained how it considered that the changes to the waste collection point did not harm residents. The Council said it checked before it made the changes and noted that none of the households had assisted collections. It also said it noted the distance residents were being asked to move the bins and considered this was reasonable. If any residents were unable to access the new collection point independently it said it was open to them to apply for assisted collections.

My findings

23. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 says that councils are entitled to decide from what location household waste is collected. The Equality Act 2010 sets out that as part of its decision making it must consider the needs of people with protected characteristics such as disability or age.
24. The Council was entitled to make the changes it did to its waste collection. In making the change, the Council considered its Public Sector Equality Duty by carrying out an impact assessment of the wider waste strategy before it implemented it. It also considered the impact of this individual change and concluded any negative impact was mitigated by its offer of assisted collections.
25. The Council acted in line with the relevant law and so was not at fault in how it came to its decision to change the waste collections. The Ombudsman cannot question a council’s decision if it came to that decision without fault.
26. However there was fault in the Council’s complaint handling. Ms X’s concerns about a potential risk to her and her neighbours formed a key part of her complaints. The Council has demonstrated to the Ombudsman that it considered risk and inconvenience to residents as part of its decision making and concluded the waste collection change should still go ahead. However it failed to explain this in response to Ms X’s complaints. This was fault and caused Ms X avoidable frustration.
27. Finally, Ms X complained that she was not informed about the changes in a timely way. The Council apologised for this and said it could have sent a letter sooner. However the Council did inform residents by letter before the changes took place and so I do not consider the Council was at fault.

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Action

28. Within one month of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. apologise to Ms X for not addressing her key point of complaint in its complaint response; and
2. remind complaint handling staff of the importance of summarizing the key points of a person’s complaint and ensuring these are responded to.

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Decision

29. I find fault by the Council and recommend an apology and a service improvement.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman