Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to change his refuse collection from waste bags to wheelie bins because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council replaced his bagged refuse collection with wheelie bins. Mr X said he has limited storage space for the bins as he lives in a mid-terrace property.
2. Mr X said the matter caused him distress.

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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 provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council recently implemented a policy to collect household waste via “wheelie bins”. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives the Council the power to prescribe the type of waste container to be used to access its waste collection services.
7. In its complaint response, the Council explained it assessed Mr X’s property and found sufficient space available for him to store wheelie bins. Mr X disagreed.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
9. Although Mr X disagrees with the Council’s assessment, there is insufficient evidence of fault in its decision making to warrant an investigation, and so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman