The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about missed waste collections. The Council has accepted it was at fault and has apologised to Miss B. An investigation would not add to the Council’s own investigation.
The complaint
Miss B complains the Council did not collect her waste for two weeks in a row during roadworks in the area and did not return to collect the waste after she reported these missed collections. Miss B also complains the Council took too long to respond to her complaint and refused her request to have part of her council tax payment refunded for this period.
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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has apologised to Miss B for her inconvenience and frustration caused by both the missed collections and the Council’s handling of her correspondence about this matter.
This was a suitable response from the Council.
We do not expect councils to pay a financial remedy for a limited number of missed collections. And, councils do not give council tax refunds for missed collections and we do not expect them to.
So, an investigation would not result in us asking the Council to pay a financial remedy or council tax refund to Miss B.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because an investigation would not add to the Council’s own investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman