The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs B complained about how the Council handled its green bin service. There were missed collections, the Council failed to correct the information it holds on its website about the collection day and the Council delayed extending Mrs B’s subscription for the green bin service to reflect the issues she had experienced. An apology, payment to Mrs B, a change to the information on the Council’s website about the bin collection day, an investigation into the issues with continuing missed collections and an action plan to deal with those is satisfactory remedy.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs B, complained about the way the Council handled her green bin collection service. Mrs B complained the Council: repeatedly failed to collect the brown bin she pays a subscription for; advertised the wrong collection day on its website and failed to correct that; and delayed extending her subscription period by four months, as it agreed to do.
Mrs B says fault by the Council has caused her distress and led to her having to go to time and trouble to pursue her complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with a Council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
As part of the investigation, I have: considered the complaint and Mrs B's comments; made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
Mrs B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
What should have happened The Council’s Garden Bin Terms and Conditions (T&C’s) says the garden waste collection service is programmed to collect on a two weekly cycle with the Council’s contractor deciding scheduling in terms of the day and the week.
The T&C’s say the annual fee does not guarantee a fixed number of collections and the service may be suspended in exceptional circumstances. It is also always suspended for a minimum of two weeks over Christmas and New Year.
What happened The Council charges £45 per year for its green bin collection service. In February 2021 there was severe weather which meant the Council used resources for the garden waste collection service to catch up on disruption and delays caused by the snow.
On 18 February 2021 Mrs B asked the Council why it had suspended collection of garden waste given she was paying for the service. Mrs B also asked about her collection day being a Thursday, as recorded on the Council’s website. Mrs B asked whether the Council would extend her subscription for the garden waste collection service to reflect the missed collection. The Council explained garden waste collections were not guaranteed in exceptional circumstances and it had cancelled the garden waste collections for two weeks to catch up on priority refuse collections disrupted due to the weather. The Council therefore said it could not extend Mrs B subscription.
Mrs B put in a complaint in March 2021. Mrs B told the Council its website still said her garden waste bin would be collected on a Thursday. Mrs B reported a missed collection on 25 February 2021 and said none of her neighbours bins had been collected that day. Mrs B also reported that despite the website advising her garden waste bin would be collected on a Thursday the collectors had attended that day, which was a Monday.
The Council responded to the complaint and explained the bad weather which had caused the disruption to the service. The Council confirmed Mrs B’s collection day for her garden waste was a Monday. The Council said it would update the website shortly. The Council also said the contractor would include Mrs B’s address on its monitoring schedule for garden collections for the next four weeks.
Mrs B was not happy with the Council’s response and asked it to take the complaint to the next stage. The Council responded to that complaint in April 2021. The Council apologised for Mrs B’s poor experience of the garden waste collection service. The Council told Mrs B its contractor had wrongly scheduled Mrs B’s garden waste collection for a Thursday and the contractor had agreed to correct that. The Council confirmed the collection day for garden waste was a Monday. The Council said Mrs B’s road would remain on the contractor’s monitoring list for the next four weeks and the Council would review any contact from residents of her road over the last four months. The Council told Mrs B it had arranged for an extra four months to be added onto her yearly garden waste subscription which would be automatically updated on the Council’s online system.
Mrs B reported that her garden waste had not been collected on 7 July 2021. Mrs B again pointed out the Council’s website was incorrect as it still showed Thursday for collections.
Between August and October 2021 the Council experienced driver shortages which meant it had to cancel some garden waste collection rounds. This was advertised on the Council’s website.
In January 2022 Mrs B contacted the Council to ask why it was asking for the bin subscription to be paid when she had been told an additional four months would be added on. Mrs B reported this meant her bins had not been collected. The Council identified that it had only moved Mrs B’s account forward by two months rather than four months. The Council added on a further two months.
In response to the Ombudsman’s enquiry the Council said it was liaising with the contractor to confirm the correct collection day, following which it will review and update its website. The Council says if the collection day proves not to be a Thursday it will extend Mrs B subscription by an additional three months.
Analysis Mrs B says the Council repeatedly failed to collect her garden waste bin despite the fact she pays a subscription for it. The Council accepts that in February 2021 some garden waste collections did not take place due to the bad weather which meant it directed resources to catching up on refuse collections, in accordance with its policy. The Council also says there was a period between August and October 2021 when there were driver shortages which meant not all garden waste collections could take place.
I accept that under the terms of the Council’s garden bin collection T&C’s it can suspend collections in exceptional circumstances. However, I do not consider it is correct for the Council to say that outside of the bad weather in February 2021 and driver shortages between August and October 2021 Mrs B has not experienced any missed bin collections. I say that because Mrs B reported a missed bin collection in July 2021. Mrs B has also reported an additional two missed collections in 2022. Failure to collect Mrs B’s bin, other than in specific circumstances where the Council has advertised difficulties collecting the bin, is fault. Given the Council does not appear to recognise there have been missed bin collections I am not clear as to why those missed collections have taken place. I therefore consider an appropriate way forward would be for the Council to liaise with Mrs B to identify which collections have been missed and then liaise with the contractor to find out what the problem was on those dates. The Council should then ensure it draws up an action plan with the contractor to address those issues. I also recommend the Council monitor garden waste collections from Mrs B’s road for a period of three months after that to make sure the problem has been resolved. The Council has agreed to my recommendation.
Mrs B says the Council has advertised the wrong collection day on its website and has not corrected it despite the fact it knows the information is not accurate. Mrs B says the collection day for her garden waste is a Monday and the Council’s website has shown the collection day as a Thursday since at least February 2021. The Council says it has asked the contractor to review the schedule for Mrs B’s property and confirm the current arrangements. The Council says once the contractor has done that it will make the necessary changes to the website.
I am concerned about the Council’s approach here. Mrs B first raised the issue of the collection day for her garden waste in February 2021. The Council was clear in the complaint response to Mrs B in March 2021 that the collection day was a Monday and the website was incorrect. At that point the Council committed to changing the collection day on the website. Despite that the Council’s website still shows the collection day as being a Thursday. That is more than 12 months since it identified the issue with the collection day. I am also unsure why the Council is now uncertain about which collection day is the right one. The Council confirmed the collection day was Monday in March 2021 and Mrs B has also recorded that the garden waste collection teams turn up on a Monday. That satisfies me, on the balance of probability, the collection day is a Monday and the Council’s website is incorrect. Failing to amend the Council’s website when it knew it contained incorrect information in March 2021 is fault. That has clearly caused Mrs B frustration as well as leading to her having to go to time and trouble to pursue her complaint.
Mrs B says the Council delayed extending her subscription for her garden waste bin. Mrs B says despite the Council agreeing to extend the subscription by four months in April 2021 it did not do that until January 2022, after she chased the Council. The evidence I have seen satisfies me Mrs B is right and the Council agreed to extend her garden waste subscription by four months in April 2021 but failed to do that until Mrs B contacted it again in January 2022. That is fault and meant Mrs B had to go to further time and trouble to pursue her complaint.
So, I have found fault as the Council has failed to address issues with missed bin collections outside of the periods when disruption to the service has been advertised, failure to correct information on the Council’s website about the garden waste collection day for Mrs B and delayed extending Mrs B subscription by four months. I set out in paragraph 19 the action the Council will take to establish the issue with the missed collections and address it. In addition I recommended the Council apologise to Mrs B, take action to ensure the website is updated to record the garden waste collection day as a Monday and pay Mrs B £100 to reflect the time and trouble she has had to go to pursuing her complaint. The Council has agreed to my recommendations.
Agreed action
Within one month of my decision the Council should: apologise to Mrs B; pay Mrs B £100; update the Council’s website to ensure the garden waste collection date is correctly recorded as a Monday for Mrs B’s property; liaise with Mrs B to identify the recent missed collections she has experienced.
Within two months of my decision the Council should liaise with the contractor about the dates Mrs B reports her garden waste not been collected and draw up an action plan to address any issues identified.
The Council should also monitor bin collections at Mrs B’s property for a further three months after that to ensure the situation is resolved.
Final decision
I have completed my investigation and uphold the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman