Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about missed household waste and recycling collections. This is because an investigation would not achieve anything further.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s waste collection contractor has failed to collect his household waste and recycling on multiple occasions. Mr X says the matter has caused inconvenience, distress and led people to fly tip into his bins.
2. Mr X wants the Council to regularly collect his waste in line with its collection schedule.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Since bringing the complaint to us, the Council’s contractor has reviewed Mr X’s complaint. In its letter to Mr X, it acknowledged the ongoing issues and that despite his previous attempts to resolve the matter, the problems persist. It acknowledged the inconvenience and distress caused to Mr X and apologised to him for this.
7. To resolve the matter, it said it had escalated the case to senior management and would monitor his collections for the next eight weeks.
8. We will not investigate this complaint. Although I acknowledge the situation has caused Mr X frustration and distress, the Council’s contractor has now acted to resolve the matter. Where we investigate missed collections and find fault, we often recommend a period of monitoring to ensure the problem has resolved. So it is unlikely an investigation would lead to a different outcome that that already proposed or achieve anything further.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve anything further or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman