on the lessons that can be learnt from our complaints about end of life care given in care homes and in the home.
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling Decision : Closed after initial enquiries Decision date : 25 Mar 2026 The complaint
My assessment
Final decision
The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about a missed refuse collection. This is because Mr B has not suffered a significant injustice which would justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr B complains his recycling bins were not collected as scheduled which meant he had to take his waste to the local waste and recycling site. Mr B would like the Council to pay him compensation for his time and costs dealing with his waste and pay a council tax refund for the service he has paid for but not received.
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 impact 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: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not normally investigate complaints about one or two missed refuse collections. And, we do not expect councils to pay a financial remedy or a council tax refund for a single missed collection.
I find this missed collection has not caused Mr B a serious or significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation or the pursuit of a financial remedy by the Ombudsman. So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because he has not suffered a significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman