The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to collect waste bins due to industrial action. This is because we have no jurisdiction to investigate matters which affect all or most people in the Council’s area.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has failed to collect his bins regularly.
He says that his case is worse than that of other affected residents.
Mr X also says that the Council have treated him unfairly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7) as amended).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X’s bins have not been collected regularly due to industrial action – an action affecting all or most people in his area. We have no jurisdiction to investigate any matter that affects all or most people in the Council’s area.
However, Mr X says that his case is significantly worse than other residents’ cases and he has been treated unfairly because he lives in a less affluent area of Birmingham. He says that the Council respond quicker to bin collection requests from the more affluent areas of the city. He also says that the Council are treating him unfairly because he previously opposed regeneration plans in his community.
We have not seen enough evidence that Mr X is affected by the strikes differently than ‘all or most’ of the residents of the area. Therefore, we cannot investigate this part of his complaint.
We are not an appeal body, and it is not within our remit to investigate whether the Council breached the Equality Act 2010 duties. It is the courts who can decide whether the Council breached their Equality Act 2010 duties.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matter affects all or most people in his area.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman