Summary: We cannot investigate part of Mr X’s compliant that the Council failed to collect his household waste consistently after February 2025 because the cause of the fault affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area. We will not investigate the remainder because the claimed injustice is not significant enough.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to collect his bins consistently since February 2025. Mr X said the matter caused him frustration and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We cannot investigate part of Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to collect his household waste. This is because from March 2025 industrial action affected the collection of household waste throughout the Council’s area. Consequently, the reason Mr X’s waste is not being collected is the same for all or most of the people in the Council’s area, and the law says we cannot investigate.
8. The period between early February 2025 and early March 2025 represents a period of approximately one month where we could investigate. However, the injustice caused by the failure to collect the waste during this period is not significant enough to warrant our involvement, and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate part of Mr X’s compliant because the cause of the fault affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area. We will not investigate the remainder because the claimed injustice is not significant enough.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman