The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide him with an extra refuse bin. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to refuse his request for an extra bin.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X asked the Council to provide him with an extra bin as he cannot dispose of all his waste with his current bin provision due to the amount of waste generated by his pets.
The Council considered the information Mr X provided but it upheld its decision to refuse his request for an extra bin. It said Mr X already had the correct size wheelie bin for his property for the number of people living in the property in line with the published eligibility criteria. It explained that waste generated from pets or animals is not taken into account in bin allocation.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because, whilst I acknowledge Mr X’s dissatisfaction with the Council’s decision and his difficulties in disposing of his waste this is not caused by any fault by the Council. It has considered Mr X’s circumstances and has decided to maintain its decision in line with its published criteria.
We are not an appeal body and it is not our role to say the Council should have made a different decision which would favour Mr X’s circumstances. We cannot question the merits of a council’s decisions, where there is no sign of fault in the way in which it was reached. The Council considered the information Mr X provided and made a decision in line with its policy. It is a decision the Council is entitled to make.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman