The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs B complained that the Council failed to regularly collect her bins causing inconvenience and expense in disposing of the waste herself. We found the Council was at fault in failing to provide Mrs B with a regular collection service between October 2020 and July 2021. It has agreed to apologise to Mrs B and make a token payment in recognition of the injustice caused.
The complaint
Mrs B complains that the Council failed to regularly collect her bins between January 2016 and July 2021. She says this caused her inconvenience and she was put to the expense of disposing of the waste herself.
What I have investigated I have exercised discretion to investigate Mrs B’s complaint back to October 2020 when she complained to the Council about the matter.
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) We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I have considered all the information provided by Mrs B, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments and the documents it 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
Legal and administrative background Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it is the Council’s duty to arrange for the collection of household waste in its area.
Key facts Mrs B moved into her property in 2016. The Council did not collect her bins because of access issues and she disposed of the waste herself.
In October 2020 Mrs B complained to the Council about the lack of collections. The Council says it did not respond because it treated the communication as a service request rather than a complaint. It says discussions were held about assigning Mrs B’s address to a collection route. The address needed to be allocated to a ‘hard to access’ route. But the Council could not do this because its existing routes had no capacity. It was in the process of creating an additional ‘hard to access route’. But, until this could be completed, Mrs B’s address and others were put onto a ‘temporary work pack’ and collections were completed as and when the Council was able to put in place an additional recovery vehicle. Due to the ad hoc nature of this temporary work, the Council has no records of when collections were made.
Mrs B complained again on 6 April 2021. The Council’s waste management team responded at stage 1 of the Council’s complaints procedure on 13 May 2021. The team apologised for the collection issues Mrs B had experienced. It explained that, because access to her property was restricted for a full-sized vehicle, it would be included on a new route which would be manned by a smaller vehicle. It said that, as soon as the new route was finalised, it would notify her of the collection schedule. The team explained that, in the meantime, a smaller recovery vehicle would complete her collections on a weekly basis.
On 8 July 2021 Mrs B’s address was added to the newly created ‘hard to access’ specialised collection route. Collections then took place regularly by a smaller vehicle.
Mrs B contacted the Council in November and December 2021 requesting a council tax rebate because of the previous collection issues. The Council explained this would not be possible.
In January 2022 Mrs B submitted a further complaint requesting compensation for the inconvenience caused by the delay in arranging regular collections. The waste management team responded explaining that the Council would not pay compensation. Mrs B escalated her complaint to stage 2. The Council responded and again apologised for the collection issues but said it would not pay compensation. Mrs B complained to the Ombudsman.
Analysis I find the Council was at fault in failing to provide Mrs B with a regular collection service until July 2021. Some collections were made on an ad hoc basis but they were not regular. However, regular collections have been taking place for the last year. So, I am satisfied the issue is now resolved.
The Council has apologised to Mrs B for the delay in arranging a regular collection service. But I consider it should also make a token payment in recognition of the time and trouble she was put to in chasing up the matter.
I find the Council was also at fault in failing to respond to Mrs B’s communication of October 2020. The Council says it dealt with this as a service request rather a complaint and so did not consider it under its complaints procedure and provide a response. I accept the Council’s explanation for not treating the communication as a complaint. However, it should still have responded to Mrs B explaining the situation. Failure to do so caused her additional frustration.
I find the Council was also at fault in failing to respond to Mrs B’s stage 1 complaint dated 6 April 2021 within its published timescales. The Council’s complaints procedure states it will provide a stage 1 response within 15 working days. In this case it did not respond until 13 May 2021 which was significantly longer than this.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed that, within one month, it will: pay Mrs B £100 in recognition of the inconvenience she was put to between October 2020 and July 2021; and apologise to Mrs B for failing to respond to her communication of October 2020 and for failing to respond to her stage 1 complaint of April 2021 within its published timescales.
Final decision
I find the Council was at fault in that it failed to provide Mrs B with a regular collection service between October 2020 and July 2021.
I also find the Council was at fault in failing to respond to Mrs B’s communication of October 2020 and in failing to respond to her stage 1 complaint within its published timescales.
I have completed my investigation on the basis that the Council has agreed to implement the recommended remedy.
Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate I have not investigated events which took place before October 2020 because Mrs B could have complained to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman