Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to waive the fee for a re-scheduled bulky waste collection. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the bulky waste collections she had paid for did not go ahead because she made an honest mistake when she did not place her items in the correct location. Ms B says the Council has strictly relied on its policy saying she must pay the £49 fee again for another collection. Ms B says she cannot afford to pay this fee again and she would like the Council to use its discretion to collect the items without charge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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

3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms B.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council considered Ms B’s request for the fee to be waived but decided to apply its policy by requiring Ms B to pay the fee for another collection.
7. The Council was satisfied the collection instructions were clear and also explained that this service is a discretionary, non-statutory service.
8. This was a decision for the Council to make and the Council took relevant factors into account.
9. So, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation into this complaint and it is not our role to tell the Council it should have used its discretion and waived this fee.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman