Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint, brought by Ms Y, about the Council’s charges to Miss X for an unused garden waste service. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss X lived in a property in the Council’s area, which she sold and moved from in 2023. She had signed up to the Council’s garden waste collection scheme. She paid for this by annual automatic Direct Debit. Ms Y is Miss X’s niece. She complains the Council:
1. continued charging Miss X for the garden waste service after she moved from her property, despite her advising the Council’s tax department;
2. has refused to refund Miss X for two years’ worth of garden waste service fees.
2. Ms Y says Miss X is £138 out of pocket, which she wants the Council to refund. She considers the Council’s departments not sharing information disadvantages vulnerable people who struggle to use their systems and wants it to review its policy to improve communication between departments.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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 from Ms Y, the Council’s waste service terms and conditions, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council’s terms and conditions for its garden waste collection service state that no refunds will be given after 14 days once the service contract has been entered into. This is the arrangement Miss X entered into when she started to receive the garden waste service. In deciding not to issue a refund to Miss X, the Council is applying the terms of that contract as agreed with her. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in doing this to justify us investigating.
6. We understand Ms Y considers the Council’s officers who deal with council tax should have told their colleagues in the waste management department about Miss X’s move from her property. She says she understands Miss X’s solicitor told the Council about the property sale and asked for a final council tax bill. We could not find it was fault that the council’s tax officers, on receiving this information and request, did not then contact the waste management department just in case the person who moved house had been receiving a chargeable council waste service there.
7. Miss X had a bank account with Direct Debits in place. She was either able to manage her Direct Debits and finances herself or had others helping her through a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) arrangement. The responsibility was on Miss X and/or her LPA support to make sure she was not paying for the garden waste service once she left the property. There is insufficient evidence of Council fault leading to Miss X making the two unused garden service payments here to warrant us investigating.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman