The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from her estate on the scheduled days or within a timely period when collections are missed. This has led to an accumulation of waste on the street which is untidy and smells. The Council’s failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections from Mrs X’s estate amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from her estate on the scheduled days or within a timely period when collections are missed. This has led to an accumulation of waste on the street which is untidy and smells.
Mrs X also complains that when the waste is collected the bins are not returned to their collection points but are left on the road and in the path, often outside the wrong house. This causes obstructions on the footpath and means Mrs X has to search for her bin.
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.
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 complains there have been problems with the household waste and recycling collections from her estate for over a year. She states she has reported missed collections via the telephone and is concerned these reports are not always properly recorded.
As the missed collections affect the whole street Mrs X says her neighbours will often report the missed collections on behalf of all the residents. They have a social media group on which she and her neighbours notify each other that they have reported the missed collections to the Council.
According to the Council’s records, Mrs X has only reported one missed collection, in the last 12 months, and that was in October 2022. However its records show 12 other residents have each report at least one missed household wate and recycling collection in the last 12 months.
In June 2022 Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council about the waste collection service. She complained collections were constantly missed and the estate’s bins were regularly overflowing with waste. Mrs X asserted the Council routinely missed one or two collections each month. She was unhappy that when they reported the missed collections they were told to leave the bins out for a supplementary collection, but this never happened. The waste was not collected until the next scheduled collection date. This meant there was litter everywhere and the area looked untidy.
Mrs X also complained that the collection crews were noisy and left the empty bins in the middle of the pavement or blocking drives rather than returning them properly.
In its response, the Council explained it was experiencing widespread staff shortages in the waste services and amongst refuse collection crews. This meant that whilst most collections were being made, some collection rounds had been impacted by the shortages. The Council advised that if bins are missed, to leave them out as catch up crews were operating.
Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and asked for her complaint to be reviewed. She explained this was not a recent occurrence, but had been ongoing since January 2022, with collections being missed twice a month. Mrs X and her neighbours reported the missed collections but the waste was never cleared until the next scheduled collection.
The Council reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and noted its records showed Mrs X had last reported a missed collection in 2019. It hoped this meant she received an efficient service in the main. The Council reiterated there were widespread operational difficulties which had affected collections. It also noted that local councillors had contacted the depot directly and hoped the situation had improved.
Mrs X reiterated the missed collections had happened for years not weeks and that at least one or more resident reported each missed collection. She has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. Mrs X confirmed the collections have improved in recent months but the empty bins were still not being returned properly.
In response to my enquiries the Council states that in light of the number of residents reporting missed collections, it has arranged to monitor the collections between October and December 2022. It states this monitoring can be used to identify the root cause of any missed collections.
Analysis It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from Mrs X’s estate throughout 2022. These failings in the service amount to fault.
Mrs X did not report each missed collection as she states there was an arrangement amongst the neighbours to report collectively for the whole estate. She states she did however report some missed collections, prior to October 2022, so it is unclear why the Council has no record of these reports.
I note and welcome that the Council has arranged to monitor the collections on Mrs X’s estate for the next few months. This should assist in identifying and resolving any issues with the collections and ensure the bins are returned properly. However, I consider the Council could have taken this action sooner.
The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections by analysing their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses start to appear frequently. Its mobile technology (in cab device/mobile hand-held device) can also flag up repeat missed collections. Mrs X and her neighbours’ recurring reports should therefore have alerted the Council to a potential problem. This should in turn have prompted an investigation to identify and resolve the issue.
Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. As the missed collections affect the whole street Mrs X has not only had to manage her own uncollected waste and recycling, but she has also had to repeatedly endure large amounts of uncollected waste on her street. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £150 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular 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 failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections from Mrs X’s estate amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman