Summary: Mr D says the Council has repeatedly failed to collect waste on scheduled days. I have found fault by the Council because it missed several collections causing Mr D avoidable time and trouble. The Council has agreed to pay Mr D redress and to contact him to check if the issue is now resolved.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Mr D) says the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste on the scheduled dates.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 future we may recommend a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. I have considered events from August 2024 through to January 2026 (when the case was referred to our Assessment Team). If Mr D has experienced issues after January 2026 he can make a new complaint to the Council. Once he completes the complaints process, he can bring those recent matters to the Ombudsman.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr D and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

What happened

7. On 8 August Mr D reported a missed recycling waste collection to the Council. I do not have record of when a collection was made. On 5 December Mr D complained to the Council that waste crew operatives had come onto his property to empty a bin without his consent. He also wanted the Council to collect his waste on the scheduled collection day. On 10 December the Council replied to the complaint. It said collection crews had attended on a Wednesday instead of the scheduled day (Thursday). It had told the crew it must only attend on the scheduled day.
8. On 1 January 2025 Mr D told the Council that problems continued with the waste collections. There had been missed collections at the end of December. On 15 January the Council emailed Mr D, it had discussed his case with the Refuse and Recycling Supervisor about bins not being emptied on the scheduled days. The Supervisor had spoken to Mr D earlier that month and apologised. Mr D emailed the Council on 18 January, he said he had to take waste to the recycling centre because of the unemptied bins. He asked the Council to confirm the collection days and that crews would not turn up on non-scheduled days.
9. On 13 February the Council issued its final stage complaint response. It said the Council had previously told Mr D the collection day was Thursday; however the Council’s website showed the collection day as Friday. It understood collections were being made on a Thursday (and sometimes on a Wednesday) because the collection crew ‘considered this a more effective use of resources’. The crew had been told to only collect on Thursdays. The Council also said the crew should not go onto Mr D’s property to retrieve a bin; this should only happen where an assisted collection service had been agreed. It apologised. The Council said it was considering changing the collection day and if changed it would notify Mr D in writing. If it kept to Thursday, it would have the website updated to show Thursday as the scheduled day.
10. On 13 March Mr D reported a missed waste collection. I have no record of when this was collected. On 18 March Mr D emailed the Council that he had not heard back about the missed collection which had not been picked up. On the same day an Officer emailed colleagues that the Council website still showed the collection day for Mr D as Friday. This meant that when Mr D logged onto his Council account to report a missed collection he ‘appears to be in no man’s land and [is] not picked up’. The Officer asked if the collection day could be updated on the website. On 27 March the Council says it updated its website to show the collection date for Mr D’s property changed from Friday to Thursday. It says a letter should have been issued to Mr D at the time, but it does not keep a record of standard letters being issued.
11. On 19 June Mr D reported a missed collection to the Council, this was subsequently collected the next day. Mr D reported another missed collection on 4 July. On 8 July he emailed the Council about the missed recycling collection. He wanted the Council to resolve the ongoing problem without having to pursue a complaint. The next day the Council told Mr D the crew had missed a ‘few places’ and apologised. A collection would be made that day. I understand the collection was made on 9 July.
12. Mr D reported further missed collections to the Council on 21 November. The Council subsequently noted there had been a missed collection due to weather conditions and an issue with a driver unfamiliar with the route. The collection was done on 26 November. On 8 December the Council told Mr D it had used drivers not familiar with the collection route and some waste collections had been missed.

Events outside my investigation timeframe

13. In March 2026 Mr D reported another missed recycling collection, Mr D also reported a further missed collection at the end of March. A collection was made 2 April.

What should have happened

14. The Council’s website allows residents to input their postcode to find out the days waste collections are scheduled for.
15. A resident can report to the Council where a waste collection has been missed. If the report is received on the designated day of collection the Council should collect the waste within three working days, excluding Monday.
16. If a resident reports three missed collections the Council should contact the Supervisor for the collection route to investigate the cause of the problem and resolve the issue. The Council can designate the property as a priority address which means the crew have to confirm to the Supervisor when a collection has been carried out.

Was there fault by the Council

17. There is evidence of fault by the Council. Mr D experienced at least seven missed collections from August 2024 to January 2026. However, there may have been more problems which I cannot verify. I note the Council’s internal email on 18 March 2025 said that because the website showed a different collection day to the one being used by the Council it meant Mr D’s reports about missed collections were not picked up. The cause of the missed collections was initially due to the crew attending on non-scheduled days. The Council’s website was updated at the end of March to show Thursday as the collection day and the Council had told Mr D in its complaint response that crews had been told to attend on the correct day. However, Mr D experienced further missed collections that year, these were due to a variety of issues including weather conditions and a driver that was unfamiliar with the route. It is clear to me that Mr D did not receive an acceptable level of service.
18. Whilst my investigation only looks at events up to January 2026, I note there have been further missed collections reported in 2026.

Did the fault cause an injustice

19. The fault by the Council meant Mr D incurred avoidable time and trouble pursuing his complaint, contacting the Council and having to take his recycling to a waste centre.

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Action

20. To remedy the injustice caused to Mr D the Council has agreed to:
• Pay Mr D £150 for avoidable time and trouble
• Contact Mr D to discuss whether the collection issues have stopped. If there are ongoing problems the Council will need to investigate to establish the cause of the current problem and then rectify it.
21. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions within four weeks of this investigation closing.

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Decision

22. I find fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman