London Borough of Barnet (25 028 448)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council delivered food waste containers even though he had requested not to receive them. This is because Mr B has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr B complains the Council delivered food waste containers to his property even though he had requested not to receive them because he composts his food waste. Mr B says he has had to store these containers and arrange for their removal. And, the Council’s mishandling of this matter has meant he had to pursue a complaint through the Council’s complaints procedure, which did not address all his concerns.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr B.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council has offered to collect these containers and has also told Mr B he can take them to a local recycling site for re-use.
- We have limited resources and must use public money carefully. I find this issue has not caused Mr B an injustice so serious or significant it would justify public money being spent on an investigation by the Ombudsman. So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because he has not suffered a serious or significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman