Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to empty her bins. This is because the injustice she claims results from recent industrial strike action by the Council’s refuse collection crews and affects all or most of the residents in the Council’s area.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council repeatedly missed her refuse and recycling collections in 2024 and has now stopped collections entirely in 2025 due to industrial strike action by its refuse collection crews. She says there are uncollected bins all over the roads, many of which are overflowing, and she is concerned this will attract rats.

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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)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. We cannot investigate or provide a remedy for any missed collections caused by the industrial action carried out by the Council’s refuse collection crews. This is because the strikes affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and the law does not allow us to investigate such matters, as set out at Paragraph 4. We could not in any event achieve the outcome Ms X wants, which is for the Council to collect the rubbish and recycling in accordance with the schedule. This is because it is not something which is currently within its control.
7. While Ms X has also raised concerns about missed collections before the current strikes I have seen nothing to show these caused Ms X significant enough injustice to warrant investigation or any financial remedy. The injustice Ms X claims is the result of the current issues and we cannot provide a remedy for the general impact of the strikes on local residents as explained above.
8. Since raising her initial complaint Ms X has also complained about the Council’s garden waste collection service. This is a subscription-based service and although Ms X has paid for the year the Council has now confirmed it cannot start collections. The Council explained to Ms X in response to her complaint that it was looking at the issue and has since published information on its website to show that all residents who have paid for the service will be refunded. This provides a suitable remedy for the issue and it is therefore unlikely we could achieve anything more for Ms X by investigating it further.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Ms X claims results from industrial strike action carried out by the Council’s refuse collection crews. This is an issue which affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and the law does not allow us to investigate such matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman