Summary: We have upheld Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s repeated failure to collect clinical waste from his home. The Council has agreed to apologise, monitoring and a remedy payment which provides a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about repeated missed collections of a sharps bin by the Council’s contractor since January 2026. Mr X also believes the Council’s offer to monitor collections for two months will not minimise recurrence of the problem. Mr X is also unhappy with the remedy payment the Council has offered and its failure to provide him with a replacement sharps bin as promised.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. If we investigated this complaint, we would likely find fault with the Council. This is because the Council has repeated failed to fulfil its previous commitments to collect and replace Mr X’s sharps bin from January to July 2026. This has led to Mr X having the inconvenience of storing hazardous waste in his home for longer than necessary and having to purchase his own replacement sharps bin.
6. We therefore asked the Council to take action to remedy the injustice caused to Mr X, which to its credit the Council has accepted.

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Agreed action

7. The Council has agreed to complete the following action within one month of the date of decision:
• make a written apology to Mr X. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology;
• monitor the next six sharps bin collections for Mr X to ensure these are completed and replacement bins are provided;
• provide Mr X with a named point of contact to whom he can report any issues with sharps bin collections; and,
• make a remedy payment to Mr X of £150 for loss of service for seven months and £100 for time and trouble (total of £250).

8. The Council should provide us with evidence that the above action has been completed.

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Final decision

9. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman