The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council incorrectly sent her a warning letter regarding contamination of her recycling waste. The Council already apologised and removed the letter from its files. An investigation is unlikely to achieve anything else, and Ms X was not caused a significant injustice in any case.
The complaint
Ms X complained the Council sent her a warning letter alleging her recycling bin was contaminated with polystyrene. Ms X said she had not presented her recycling bin on the day in question and was erroneously sent the warning.
Ms X said the matter caused her extreme anxiety and distress.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X said she received a warning letter about contamination in her recycling bin. Ms X said she had not put her bin out on the day in question and therefore the warning letter should not have been sent to her.
In its complaint response, the Council explained why it concluded the bin belonged to her. It apologised for any confusion and said the warning letter was removed from her file.
An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve anything further, and so we will not investigate this complaint.
In any case, our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. 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. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
Ms X was not caused a significant injustice by receiving the letter, and so we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve anything further, and Ms X was not caused a significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman