Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of refuse and recycling collections. This is because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant further investigation and we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has repeatedly missed refuse and recycling collections. She says the Council has changed the collection arrangements so residents must take their bins to designated collection points. She would like the Council’s traffic wardens to monitor parking on the days the bins are collected.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).
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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

7. Miss X says the Council has missed refuse and recycling collections from her street because parked cars prevent access. She says the Council then changed the collection arrangements, so residents had to take their bins to designated collection points. She submitted a complaint to the Council in December 2025.
8. In January 2026, the Council told residents waste and recycling collections had changed to agreed collection points. It has since explained this letter was sent in error and confirmed roadside collections have continued.
9. The law means we can choose only to investigate a complaint where the person has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
10. I recognise the circumstances of Miss X’s complaint have affected her, but the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant us investigating. The Council has also confirmed that roadside collections are continuing. We could not achieve anything further for Miss X.
11. In any event, Miss X wants the Council’s traffic wardens to monitor the street on collection days. However, an Ombudsman’s investigation is unlikely to achieve this because we cannot require the Council’s traffic wardens to monitor the area. An investigation could not achieve anything further for Miss X.
12. We will not investigate the way the Council handled the complaint and correspondence here because we are satisfied it did not cause enough separate injustice to warrant it.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant further investigation and we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman