Summary: Ms X complained that although she should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste as scheduled. Ms X also complained that when the Council does empty her bin, it does not also take the accumulated side waste and clinical waste and has refused her request for an additional bin. We found the failure to collect Ms X’s waste in line with the assisted collection service is fault, as was the failure to consider her requests for an additional bin. These faults have caused Ms X an injustice.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that although she should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste as scheduled.
2. Ms X also complained that when the Council does empty her bin, it does not also take the accumulated side waste and clinical waste. Ms X has requested an additional bin to manage the large amounts of excess medical waste but the Council has refused. Ms X says that clinical waste cannot be stored for extended periods without risk to health and complains the Council is putting vulnerable residents at a disadvantage.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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.
6. Mrs 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. Mrs X should receive assisted collections which have been missed leading to an accumulation of medical waste ‘all or most’ residents will not have experienced.
7. 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.
8. 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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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Ms 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

11. 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.
12. 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.

What happened here

13. Ms X lives with her elderly mother and they are registered for assisted waste collections. Ms X says her mother’s medical conditions mean they produce a lot of waste, including clinical and hygiene waste which does not all fit in the bin the Council has provided.
14. Ms X says the problem is exacerbated when waste collections are missed and she then has to store the accumulated waste. She says the nature of this waste means this is a health risk.
15. Ms X made a formal complaint in May 2025 about the ongoing failure to provide adequate waste collections even though they should receive assisted collections. Ms X said they had made multiple complaints and service requests about frequent delays and missed collections. She had also repeatedly asked for an additional bin but the Council had ignored her requests.
16. Ms X complained the overflowing bin with uncollected clinical and hygiene waste posed a serious health risk. She asked the Council to ensure they received weekly assisted collections and to provide an additional bin as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act. Ms X also asked the Council to explain why it had not acted on her previous complaints and to provide a named contact to take responsibility for resolving the matter.
17. The Council responded a few days later and told Mrs X it was not progressing complaints related to missed collections due to industrial action. It provided general advice for residents on presenting their waste for collection.
18. Ms X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and asserted it had missed the point and was obliged to make reasonable adjustments for her disabled household. Ms X said she had requested another large clinical bin to use during the delays and asked the Council to confirm whether it would consider her request.
19. In addition Ms X noted that although her bin was emptied the previous day, the collection crew had not taken the extra bags she had left at the side of her bin.
20. There is no record the Council responded further to Ms X’s complaint at this stage.
21. Ms X contacted the Council again in September 2025 as the Council had not collected their excess waste. As the Council had not provided an additional bin, Ms X had purchased her own. She had presented these additional bins with her residual waste bin, but the Council had only emptied the residual bin. This meant Ms X had to move the full bins from the roadside back to her house. Ms X asserted this defeated the purpose of the assisted collection service as she should not have to move the bins herself given her medical history and mobility issues.
22. The Council acknowledged Ms X’s frustration but told Ms X the collection crew do not collect excess waste at the side of the bin if there was no reported missed collection the previous week.
23. Ms X reiterated that they were registered for assisted collections and that the crews regularly failed to collect their waste, leaving Ms X with excess medical waste to manage. Mrs X asserted the Council’s repeated failures amounted to breaches of its duty under the Equality Act. She asked it to take immediate steps to resolve the issue.
24. Ms X also made a further request for an additional bin to manage the unavoidable medical waste on 10 September 2025. Ms X said one bin was insufficient and the repeated missed collections or partial collections left her with overflowing waste which was heavy for her to move. She considered providing a second bin was a simple and proportionate reasonable adjustment the Council could make and would significantly reduce the current health risk.
25. The Council told Ms X the size of bin was dependent on how many people lived at the address and that if she had clinical waste it could provide a larger bin. It said the largest bin it provides is 360 litres which is the bin Ms X currently has. The Council said that as part of the waste transformation it would in time be providing an additional recycling bin for paper and a food waste bin. It said these bins would help create space in the household bin for non-recyclable waste.
26. In addition the Council said it does not provide additional bins for missed collections. And that crews would collect additional side waste of up to two bags as they were not collecting recycling at this time.
27. Ms X challenged the Council’s response and said they were not experiencing occasional missed collections but a routine failure to collect. This meant she was having to fit two weeks clinical waste into a one-week capacity bin.
28. Ms X also disputed that crews collected extra side waste. She said that this did not happen in practice and that clinical waste, unlike paper or food waste could not be stored for extended periods without risk. She did not consider the Council had addressed her concerns and asked for a substantive response. There is no record the Council responded to Ms X.
29. In response to our enquiries the Council says Ms X reported four missed collections in 2025 and has not reported any in 2026. It says the missed collections in 2025 were due to the industrial action and that missed collection are handled differently during industrial action. If crews were blockaded and unable to collect the assigned routes the crews were instructed to collect excess waste when making collections the following week.
30. The Council says no missed collections have been reported or general enquiry forms raised against Ms X’s address in 2026. It says it has had no interaction with Ms X since October 2025.
31. In addition, the Council says Ms X has the biggest residual bin it offers in residential properties. It provided this bin when Ms X requested it in 2019. The Council says this is the only request for a larger bin that Ms X has made. It says it considered this request in line with its service specification.
32. The Council’s domestic recycling and waste service specification sets out the types and size of bins it will provide. Where households are suitable for wheelie bin collections the Council will provide a standard 180 litre wheelie bin for residual waste.
33. Larger household of six or more people can request a 240 litre residual waste bin instead of the 180 litre bin. And households of 9 or more people can request a 360 litre bin in place of the 180 litre bin.
34. The service specification also provides that where a household produces additional waste due to a medical condition the Council will provide additional bespoke services to ensure the waste is collected in a way that supports the household. This may include the provision of additional waste collection capacity.
35. Households are also able to request temporary assistance should they only require help for a defined period.

Analysis

36. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to determine whether or not Ms X should have an additional bin, that is the Council’s job. We can only consider whether the Council assessed her request correctly. It is clear from the correspondence provided that Ms X has requested an additional bin to accommodate the waste produced due to her mother’s medical condition, on several occasions. Ms X’s complaints in May 2025 refer to these requests and Mrs X made a further specific request in September 2025.
37. There is no evidence the Council has properly considered these requests. Ms X does have a larger bin than standard, but there is no evidence the Council has assessed whether this is adequate for the level of waste the household currently produces. The reference in the Council’s email of 15 September 2025 to the provision of an additional recycling bin and a food waste bin does not address Ms X’s circumstances. There is no timeframe for the introduction of these new bins and recycling collections have been suspended during the industrial action. Ms X has also been clear that it is the level of medical waste produced that necessitates an additional bin.
38. The Council’s failure to properly consider Ms X’s request for an additional bin is fault. This fault has caused Ms X frustration and uncertainty.
39. While it is clear there have been some missed collections, the extent to which collections have been missed is unclear. Ms X says she has repeatedly reported missed and partial collections while the Council’s records show only four reports of missed collections between April and September 2025.
40. It is possible there have been further missed collections that Ms X has not reported to the Council or that the Council has not recorded due to the industrial action. In the absence of documentary evidence I am unable to say, even on the balance of probability, the extent to which Ms X’s waste collections were missed or partially missed. I do however consider it likely there were more than four occasions.
41. The Council’s website says that side waste will be collected whilst strike action is taking place and needs to be presented in bin bags next to the wheelie bin. The website does not say there are restrictions on the amount that can be presented or the circumstances in which it will be collected. However the Council told Ms X on 10 September 2025 that the crews would not collect side waste if a missed collection had not been reported the previous week. Then on 15 September 2025 the Council told Ms X that crews would collect two bags of side waste as they were not collecting recycling.
42. Given these inconsistencies in the Council’s position regarding the collection of side waste I consider it likely there were occasions when collections were made but side waste was left. The missed and partial collections were fault.
43. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Ms X a significant injustice. Ms X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected medical waste left at her property, which is both unhygienic and heavy and difficult to move. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment that the Council has not responded to her requests for an additional bin.

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Action

44. The Council has agreed to:
• apologise to Ms X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties the failure to make assisted waste collections or consider her requests for an additional bin have caused.
• consider Ms X’s request for an additional residual bin and write to Ms X confirming its decision.
45. The Council should take this action within eight weeks of the final decision statements and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman