Summary: Miss X complained that although she should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste despite collecting her neighbours’ waste. We found the Council’s repeated failed to collect Miss X’s household waste in line with its assisted collection service is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that although she should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste despite collecting her neighbours’ waste.
2. Miss X also complained the Council had wrongly removed her from the assisted collection service without notifying her or discussing this with her.
3. Left her on hold during a phone call for an hour and then put the phone down on her.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. In January 2025 the Council’s waste collection crews began industrial action. This began with specific strike days each week when waste would not be collected. Then from 11 March 2025 it became an all-out strike. The Council suspended recycling collections when industrial action began and then declared a major incident on 31 March 2025 to address the impact of the industrial action. This has resulted in missed collections for a large proportion of the Council’s residents.
7. Miss X has complained of missed collections during the strike action but we have investigated her complaint as she appears to be affected more than most. Miss X should receive assisted collections which have been missed while her neighbour’s waste has been regularly collected during the strike action.
8. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
9. 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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

10. Miss X has previously complained to us about missed garden waste collections in 2022 and 2023. She says the Council has still not collected the accumulated garden waste and new evidence has come to light regarding video evidence from cameras on the collection vehicles in 2022.
11. Miss X says she has also recently learnt that the Council removed her from the assisted collection list when she complained to the Ombudsman in 2022.
12. We will not reinvestigate Miss X’s concerns about missed collections or events in 2022 or 2023. Our investigation will focus on events since November 2024.

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How I considered this complaint

13. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
14. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

15. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection of household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
16. The Council's general practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection. This practice has been amended during the industrial action.
17. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
18. Under normal circumstances when a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report. The Council has stopped actioning reports of missed collections during the industrial action.

What happened here

19. Miss X complains the Council has failed to collect her household waste since November 2024. Miss X should receive assisted collections but she says her bins are often missed when her neighbours’ are collected.
20. According to the Council’s records Miss X did not report any missed collections in 2024. She reported 11 missed collections between January and September 2025. The records show the Council completed the missed collection reported on 8 September 2025 on 16 September 2025. All of the other reports were closed without further action due to the industrial action.
21. Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council in April 2025. She said she had reported missed collections 12 times since November 2024 and had told the Council on 10 January 2025 that her bins and not been collected since November 2024 when her neighbours’ were. Miss X said missed collections occurred before the strikes and she was told her bins would be collected, but they were not.
22. She understood collections were still being made during the strikes but said her garden waste and recycling had been missed several times. Miss X also said she had stopped the collection crew in early March 2025 to ask why her bins were not being collected with her neighbours’. She says the crew told her they were unaware of her assisted collections. The following week her bin was emptied but was left in the middle of her drive rather than returned to the storage point.
23. The Council responded on 22 April 2025 and apologised for the disruption caused by the strike action. It said the Council was making every effort to ensure waste collection services continued during the industrial action. This included properties that receive assistance.
24. It said crews are provided with a list of properties and when they do attend Miss X’s road her bins should be emptied and returned to the storage area. The Council asked Miss X to contact the Council if this did not happen. It said the manager was now aware of the issues and had provided additional reminders to the crews.
25. Records showed the Council had added assisted collections to Miss X’s address on 13 January 2025. It said it was unable to trace whether the property had previously received assisted collections as the update in January overrode any previous requests.
26. The Council noted Miss X had reported five missed household waste collections in February and March 2025. And said recycling collections were suspended due to industrial action. The garden waste service had been cancelled and Miss X would automatically receive a refund for this service.
27. As the missed collections continued, in September 2025 Miss X asked for her complaint to be considered further. The Council reviewed Miss X’s complaint and apologised for the continued missed collections. It said it was still managing the strike action which had impacted on the service it delivered.
28. It reiterated it would collect refuse as soon as it could and would collect side waste left next to the bins. And that it had suspended recycling, garden waste and bulky waste collections, and that it had now refunded all garden waste subscriptions.
29. Miss X remains unhappy and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns. In response to my enquiries the Council says it stopped investigating and actioning reports of missed collections in January 2025 as roads were being missed on a regular basis due to the industrial action. It said it was only able to get limited crews out of the depot every day and that these crews could not complete full rounds leading to excessive dropped work.
30. The Council refers to the assisted collections as a priority service and says they should remain unaffected during industrial action. However this is dependent on vehicle and staff availability. It says that due to factors beyond its control it cannot always provide the service during industrial action where rounds are dropped due to vehicles being blockaded in the depot. There are no special arrangements for assisted collections such as individual rounds just for assisted collections.
31. The Council says that since the industrial action Miss X’s collections are being made by another local authority. It says it informs the local authority of all assisted collection properties on the round so that they are aware of the requirements.
32. The Council has been unable to trace the recordings of any calls from Miss X between November 2024 and March 2025. Calls are not retained indefinitely and the Council believes any recordings would have expired. The Council has also changed its telephony system since then.

Analysis

33. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Miss X’s household waste in line with its assisted collection service. These failings in the service amount to fault.
34. Details of Miss X’s assisted collections should appear on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and in the crew packs. It is therefore unclear why Miss X’s household waste was repeatedly missed when her neighbours’ waste was collected. All collection crews, whether they are the regular crew or a replacement crew, are provided with details of assisted collections on the route so the service should not have been impacted in this way by the industrial action. When crews attended Miss X’s road they should have collected Miss X’s household waste along with her neighbours’.
35. The Council’s records show Miss X was added to the assisted collections list in January 2025, while Miss X says she has received assisted collections since 2022. I am unable to resolve this issue. It is not possible on the information available to determine whether, or why Miss X was removed from the assisted collections list and then reinstated in January 2025.
36. The absence of any recordings of Miss X’s calls to the Council means I am also unable to determine, even on the balance of probabilities, whether Miss X was unnecessarily left on hold for extended periods or whether staff deliberately put the phone down on her. While this is unfortunate, we would not expect Council to retain telephone recordings indefinitely.
37. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Miss X a significant injustice.
38. Miss X is unable to dispose of the waste herself and has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste left at her property. The accumulated waste looks untidy, attracts rodents and causes unpleasant smells. Miss X has also experienced frustration and disappointment that despite her complaints and reporting of problems the missed collections continued. She has also been put to time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

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Action

39. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste collections has caused.
40. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
41. The Council should take this action within eight weeks of the final decision on this complaint and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

42. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman