The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complained the Council has failed to monitor his recycling collections as agreed in resolution of his previous complaint. The Council agreed it would monitor by a supervisor or manager attending the collection and keeping a record that the collection was completed. The Council’s failure to carry out the monitoring as agreed is fault, as is the ongoing failure to collect Mr X’s recycling. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X complained the Council has failed to monitor his recycling collections as agreed in resolution of his previous complaint. The Council agreed it would monitor by a supervisor or manager attending the collection and keeping a record that the collection was completed. Mr X says this has not taken place and his recycling is still routinely missed.
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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future 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 information provided by Mr X; made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; Mr 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
What happened here Mr X previously complained to the Ombudsman about the Council’s repeated failure to collect his recycling. As the recycling collection vehicle has difficultly entering Mr X’s road, Mr X agreed with the Council that he would present his bin on the pavement of the nearby main road for collection. Mr X complained that although the Council empties other bins presented there, it does not empty his.
In resolution of his previous complaint the Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and monitor his recycling collections between September and December 2023. It confirmed the monitoring would be carried out by a supervisor or manager attending the collection and keeping a record that the collection was completed.
The Council’s monitoring records show it completed four of the seven scheduled collections during the monitoring period. It states the first collection in October 2023 was missed and that Mr X did not present his bin for the second collection in October 2023. The Council also says all of the bins on Mr X’s road were missed on the first collection in November 2023 due to vehicle issues.
However Mr X says the Council only made one recycling collection during the monitoring period. He also says that when his recycling bin is not collected he returns the full bin to his property. The Council then empties this into the general refuse collection vehicle, and it is not recycled.
According to the Council’s records Mr X reported five missed recycling collection during the monitoring period. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. Most of the dates suggest the recycling was collected within a week of the missed collection. However Mr X reported a missed collection on 23 October 2023 which the Council closed on 7 November 2023. This is the day after the next scheduled collection, which Mr X reported as missed. The Council did not close Mr X’s report of a missed collection on 6 November 2023 until 13 November 2023.
This is curious as had it made a collection on 7 November 2023 as its records suggest the Council could have closed both reports that day.
The Council’s records also show that Mr X reported four more missed recycling collections between January and April 2024. This suggests monitoring has not resolved the issue and there is an ongoing problem of missed collections.
In response to my enquiries the Council says that due to staffing issues there was not a specific manager available to check the collections, and that some collections were not monitored by an Assistant Service manager from the depot. It says the collections were monitored by the crew manager who reported any issues with the collections.
The Council says there where collections were missed the collection crew returned to make the collection before the next scheduled collection. And that Mr X’s address remained on the monitoring list so that the Council could ensure collections were completed.
In addition the Council says that on occasions where there are no recycling vehicles available, the contents may be disposed of as a one-off collection using a refuse vehicle. It says this is not ideal but is done to prevent delays for the household concerned. The Council says the only other alternative would be to leave the waste on the street until a vehicle was available.
Analysis The Council’s failure to carry out the monitoring as agreed is disappointing and amounts to fault. The Council cannot evidence that any of the collections were monitored and recorded by a supervisor or manager attending the collection.
Although the Council says monitoring did take place it was clearly not effective. The intention behind the monitoring was to ensure Mr X’s recycling was collected. If the crew manager was monitoring the collections as the Council suggests the missed collection should not have occurred as it could have been immediately rectified. It seems illogical for the crew manager who was present at the time of the collection, to record a collection as missed rather than direct the crew to collect Mr X’s recycling.
There are also inconsistencies between Mr X’s reports of missed collections and the Council’s monitoring records. The Council’s records do not dispute Mr X’s reports of missed collections on days when the Council has recorded the collection was completed. And the record for 23 October 2023 does not state the collection was missed as the bin was not presented.
I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections during the monitoring period, or when the Council actually collected the recycling.
It is also disappointing that although the Council says Mr X’s address remained on the monitoring list after the three-month period, collections continued to be missed. The Council has not provided records of any further monitoring, nor has it disputed Mr X’s reports of missed collections in 2024.
The documentation suggests the Council’s actions have not resolved the problem and the missed collections are ongoing. This has caused Mr X a further injustice.
Mr X has experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed recycling collections and the Council’s subsequent disposal of the recycling with the general refuse. This frustration and disappointment has been exacerbated by the Council’s ineffective monitoring and failure to resolve the problem.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to: apologise to Mr X and pay him £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to carry out effective monitoring and the ongoing failure to make regular recycling collections has caused.
carry out further monitoring of Mr X’s recycling collections for eight weeks to ensure the collections are routinely made. The Council should record who carried out the monitoring and how it was done. Where monitoring is caried out by the crew manager we would not expect to see any missed collections as the issue should be immediately resolved.
The Council take this action within eight weeks of the final decision on this case and should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
Final decision
The Council’s failure to carry out the monitoring as agreed is fault, as is the ongoing failure to collect Mr X's recycling. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman