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, recycling, and garden waste on the scheduled days, despite collecting her neighbours’ waste. The repeated failings in the assisted collection service the Council has provided to Mrs X are 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, recycling and garden waste on the scheduled days, despite collecting her neighbours’ waste.
Mrs X also complained that before she was registered for assisted collections the Council would routinely fail to return her bins to their collection point and she would struggle to retrieve them from up the street.
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; and Mrs X 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
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.
In addition the Council runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service for 40 weeks between March and December. The Council charges a fee for this service and it is only available to customers who have subscribed for the service in advance. The terms and conditions for this service state the Council will consider a refund where it has failed to rectify a reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive cycles.
The Council also 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 In late 2021 Mrs X complained to the Council about her bins not being returned to her property once empty. Mrs X struggled to retrieve her bins and asked for assisted collections. The Council agreed and assisted collections were in place from January 2022.
Mrs X complains that since being registered for the assisted collection service the Council has routinely failed to collect her household waste, recycling, and garden waste. This is particularly frustrating as the Council completes Mrs X’s neighbours’ assisted collections without issue.
According to the Council’s records Mrs X has reported 12 missed household waste collections, 8 missed recycling collections and 8 missed garden waste collections since February 2022. The reports are all closed and suggest the Council made the missed collections on or around the next scheduled collection date. This seems unlikely given that Mrs X reported consecutive missed household waste collection throughout February and March 2022.
In addition to reporting missed collections, Mrs X also made a formal complaint about the assisted collection service. In early March 2022 Mrs X complained the Council had not collected her household waste for three weeks in a row but had collected her neighbours’.
The Council responded on 7 March 2022 and apologised for the lack of service Mrs X had received. It explained there were widespread staff shortages throughout Waste Service. It was making most collections as scheduled but some collection rounds had been affected. The Council was working hard to rectify the matter.
Mrs X responded the same day and reported her household waste and recycling had not been collected again that morning. Later that month Mrs X contacted her local Councillor for assistance. The Councillor contacted the depot and asked the manager to arrange a collection as soon as possible, and to ensure Mrs X received regular collections. Mrs X states someone then came out and emptied all three of her bins into the same lorry but she still did not receive regular collections. She asked the Council to review her complaint.
In May 2022 the Council again apologised for the continued poor service. It had referred the complaint to the depot manager who would remind the crews of their obligations in relation to the assisted collection service. In addition the Council confirmed that if the problem continued it would arrange a period of monitoring to check the bins were collected and returned properly.
Mrs X contacted the Council again in June 2022 as she was still not receiving regular assisted collections. Her recycling and garden waste had not been collected for a month, and while her household waste was now collected the crew would only take one bag out of her bin. As they did not take her bin to the vehicle to empty any waste at the bottom of her bin or not in a bag was not collected. Mrs X told the Council she was unable to tip the bin to remove the waste left at the bottom of the bin. Mrs X also contacted her local Councillor again.
The Council set up monitoring of Mrs X’s collections for July and August 2022. The records of this monitoring show there were further issues with the household waste, recycling, and garden waste collections during this period. In August 2022 the Council agreed to refund Mrs X the fee for the garden waste service as it had missed eight collections, including three consecutive collections.
In response to my enquiries the Council states the depot recently carried out a review of its assisted collection process and addressed any anomalies they uncovered. It states that as a result of this review all assisted collections, including Mrs X’s should now be carried out as scheduled.
The Council has arranged to monitor Mrs X’s collections in October and November 2022.
Mrs X has confirmed she now receives regular household waste collections but the crew still generally only take one bag rather than empty the full bin. She has also confirmed her garden waste has been collected since late August 2022 and her recycling was collected for the first time in a long time in September 2022.
Analysis It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste, recycling, and garden waste over many months. These failings in the assisted collection service amount to fault.
It is disappointing that the missed collections continued during the period when the Council was monitoring Mrs X’s collections. This calls into question the effectiveness of not only the monitoring but also the instructions to the collection crews who have continued to miss collections despite being aware they were being monitored.
The recent improvement in assisted collection service is to be welcomed, but I consider the Council should have taken effective action to resolve this sooner.
I also note and welcome the Council’s decision to refund Mrs X the cost of the garden waste service for 2022.
Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mrs X a significant injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste and recycling left at her property. As Mrs X has difficulty leaving the house to shop, she relies on deliveries and consequently has a large amount of cardboard. As this has not been collected regularly for many months she is left with a significant amount of cardboard which fills her garage as she has no other way of disposing of it.
Mrs X has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mrs X 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 £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular assisted household waste, recycling, and garden waste collections has caused.
The Council should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.
Final decision
The repeated failings in the assisted collection service the Council has provided to Mrs X are fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman