Summary: We upheld Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s waste collection service, poor communication and failure to follow its complaints process. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint by apologising, making a symbolic payment of £150 to acknowledge the injustice caused to Ms X, and taking action to improve its services.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council’s waste collection crew failed to return her bins to her property after emptying them. Ms X also complained the Council failed to follow to its own complaints process and that its communication was poor.
2. Ms X said having to constantly complain, searching for and retrieving her bins caused distress and inconvenience.
3. Ms X would like the Council to apologise, implement service improvements, and monitor the collection of her bins to ensure the problems do not continue. She also seeks compensation for the time, trouble, and inconvenience she says she has experienced because of these issues.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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 s34H(1), 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. If we investigated this complaint, we would likely find fault because:
• Ms X made repeated complaints to the Council over several months about issues with her bin collections. However, the Council failed to acknowledge or respond to her complaints and did not treat her repeated contacts as formal complaints until she requested it escalate matters.
• In its response, the Council upheld Ms X’s complaint that her bins had not been returned to her property. It acknowledged poor communication and accepted that it had failed to follow its complaints policy.
• The Council apologised to Ms X and agreed to take action on the issues she raised. This included adding a marker to her address on its system requiring collection crews to confirm bins had been returned before leaving the location, reminding officers to keep customers informed of actions when responding to complaints, and identifying and implementing any lessons learned from its handling of Ms X’s complaint.
8. In response to our enquiries, the Council confirmed that, since issuing its final complaint response, Ms X has reported further occasions when the Council did not return the bins. Given the recurrence of the issue despite the agreed actions, we asked the Council to consider an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused, including recognition of the time and trouble Ms X spent pursuing her complaint and the inconvenience of repeatedly retrieving her bins.

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Agreed Action

9. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to:
• pay Ms X a symbolic payment of £150 to acknowledge the time and trouble taken pursuing this matter and the inconvenience to her regarding retrieval of her bins.

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Final decision

10. We upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to provide a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X and to take action to improve its service.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman