Summary: We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint about a missed household waste collection. There is insufficient injustice to justify our involvement and it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about how the Council handled her report of a missed household waste collection. She says this caused stress, inconvenience, and costs arranging a private waste collection. She wants the Council to apologise, review its procedures, and pay compensation.

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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 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. In its complaint response, the Council accepted it had missed a collection and partially upheld Miss Y’s complaint. It said it had arranged an additional collection in response, but there was no waste presented for collection on the relevant date.
5. It said during its investigation, Miss Y had told the Council it was a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), but the property’s landlord did not hold a valid HMO licence. It confirmed it had contacted the landlord about this, and the landlord had now applied for the licence. It said it would review the property’s collection service if the application was successful, so any additional waste resulting from multiple occupancy would be collected.
6. The Council also confirmed it had ensured Miss Y could report any future missed collections for the property via its online service.
7. We will not investigate this complaint. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. Although I accept this matter caused Miss Y frustration and inconvenience, I do not consider the threshold for investigation is met by one missed waste collection. It was Miss Y’s choice to arrange a private waste collection, so it is unlikely we would ask the Council to compensate her for this.
8. Furthermore, the Council took action to address the missed collection and investigate the reasons it happened. It took steps to prevent missed collections for the property in future and to improve the reporting process for any such instances. It is therefore unlikely we could add to its investigation and response.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice to justify our involvement and it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman