Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about missed refuse collections resulting from strike action by the Council’s refuse collection crews. This is because the complaint is about 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.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council has failed to collect her household waste due to strike action by its collection crews. She says she is disabled and cannot go to the municipal waste centre.

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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.
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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

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

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My assessment

5. From time-to-time councils may be affected by industrial strike action by its employees or contractors. It is not for us to comment on the rights and wrongs of such action, and we cannot say councils must give in to the demands of those who choose to strike.
6. The strike in this case affects all or most of the residents in the Council’s area. The exclusion set out at Paragraph 3 therefore applies.

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Final decision

7. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it is about an issue which affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman