Sheffield City Council (26 016 559)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint that the Council has refused to waive a charge for a replacement bin. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing X a significant enough injustice, and because we cannot achieve the outcome X seeks.
The complaint
- X complains that the Council has refused to waive the charge for a replacement bin after theirs was hit by a car driven by a third party. X wants the Council to waive the fee and change its policy on bin charges.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate X’s complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council. The Council’s charge for the replacement bin is in line with its policy which says that it will only waive the charge if a bin is lost or damaged due to the fault of the Council.
- Furthermore, the £34 fee for the delivery of a new bin is relatively modest. I therefore find X has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation.
- Finally, we cannot achieve the outcome X seeks. It is for the Council, and not the Ombudsman, to determine its policy on replacement bin charges.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing X a significant enough injustice, and because we cannot achieve the outcome X seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman