The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs X complained that although she should receive an assisted collection service the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled days. The Council’s repeated failure to make assisted household waste and recycling collections amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complained that although she should receive an assisted collection service the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste and recycling on the scheduled days. Mrs X also complained that when her waste is collected the Council does not routinely return her bins to their collection point.
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 an organisation’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 the documents provided by Mrs X; made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; discussed the issues with Mrs X; Mrs X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Refuse and recycling collections Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
When a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.
What happened here Mrs X states there have been problems with her household waste and recycling collections for a number of years. She is registered for assisted collections so her bins should be collected from the front of her property, emptied and returned after each scheduled collection. Mrs X states the collection crews regularly miss her bins, and when they do collect them, the bins are not always put back. Mrs X then struggles to return the bins to her property.
According to the Council’s records Mrs X has reported 13 missed household waste collections and four missed recycling collections since September 2021. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council made the collections in a timely manner.
For example, Mrs X reported a missed household waste collection on 25 November 2021, which the Council closed on 2 December 2021. However, Mrs X also reported the collection scheduled for 2 December 2021 as missed, and the Council did not close this report until 7 December 2021. If the Council had made the scheduled collection on 2 December 2021 Mrs X would not have needed to report this as missed. Similarly, if the Council had returned later on 2 December 2021 to make the missed collection, it could have closed the report that day, rather than 7 December 2021.
There are further inconsistencies in the records for 2022. Mrs X reported missed collections on 17 February and 24 February 2022. The Council closed these reports on 25 February and 4 March 2022 respectively. It is unclear why if the Council made a collection on 25 February 2022, as its records suggest, it did not close both reports that day.
In addition to reporting missed collections, Mrs X also made a formal complaint to the Council. In December 2021 Mrs X complained her bin had not been collected for two weeks. She reminded the Council she should receive assisted collections and asked it to collect the accumulated waste.
The Council’s response apologised for the poor service and inconvenience. It explained the missed collections were due to operational issues which had impacted on collections across the city. The Council stated it was making every effort to get the service running back to normal.
Mrs X was not satisfied by the Council’s response. She notified the Council of further missed collections and complained that the bins were sometimes left blocking the path rather than returned to her property. Mrs X asked the Council to remind the collection crews that she should receive assisted collections. The Council reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and confirmed it has passed the matter to a manager who had spoken to the crews. It also confirmed that before the next collection it would remind the crews of her assisted collections, and it would carry out periodic monitoring to ensure the crew were following the instructions.
This did not resolve the problem and there was a further missed collection the following week. Mrs X asserted the conversation with the collection crew was ineffective and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint.
The Council’s response to my enquiries does not offer any explanation for the repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling, or to return her bins correctly. It suggests this may be a performance issue that needs addressing. The Council has now arranged to monitor Mrs X’s collections until July 2022 to ensure the collections are made and the bins correctly returned.
Analysis It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste and recycling. These failings in the service amount to fault.
Its records of Mrs X’s reported missed collections, when it subsequently made the collections, and then closed the reports are inconsistent and suggest there have been delays in making missed collections. On occasions Mrs X waited weeks for the waste to be collected as consecutive collections were missed. It is also concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when it had not collected the waste.
The Council has not offered an explanation of the missed collections. The Council has confirmed Mrs X is registered for assisted collections and this should be recorded on mobile technology within the collection vehicles and in the crew packs. It is therefore unclear why Mrs X’s bins are routinely missed when her neighbours’ are collected.
If the ongoing failure to provide an assisted collection service is due to poor crew performance this is clearly unacceptable. We would expect the Council to address any performance issues promptly and to ensure that service improves. I note that the Council has now arranged to monitor Mrs X’s collections and this is to be welcomed. I would expect the Council to use this period of monitoring to identify any reasons for the poor service and to address them.
Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste and recycling left at her property, often for weeks at a time. And when the bins are not returned she has to struggle to move them herself. Mrs X has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. She has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £250 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste and recycling collections has caused.
The Council should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
Final decision
The Council’s repeated failure to make assisted household waste and recycling collections amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman