The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his reports of problems with the collection of waste bins in his road. We will not investigate the complaint because there has been some service improvement and the injustice caused to Mr X is not at a level which warrants an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s waste collection service and its response to his reports of problems. He says some bins have been left with their lids open, on their side and returned haphazardly and not always in front of the property they were collected from. He says the Council does not respond to him about these matters.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or 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))
How I considered this complaint
I spoke to Mr X and considered information he provided, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.
My assessment
Mr X complained about a poor service provided by the Council in connection with the collection of waste bins in his road and about the difficulties he had had in getting a response from the Council about this matter.
After approaching the Ombudsman, the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint. It referred to Mr X’s original complaint about these matters back in 2020 and the action it had taken. It explained that it was unable to guarantee that bins would be returned exactly to the location they had been collected from but it advised him to report any further issues online or to its customer service team.
I spoke to Mr X to find out how the current collections were being operated. Mr X confirmed that matters had improved with bins only occasionally being left on their side or with their lids open but that some were still being left in a haphazard way and not where they were collected from.
While I understand Mr X has been frustrated with the service he has received and the delay by the Council in responding to his concerns, we do not investigate every complaint we receive. Mr X has advised the situation has improved and while there remain issues with some collections, these should be reported to the Council as it has directed. Given the current situation, and the level of injustice caused to Mr X, we will not investigate the complaint.
In responding to my draft decision, while Mr X agrees there has been some improvement to the collection service, he is frustrated the Council has not been held to account for its poor service and lack of engagement. While I note his comments, we do not investigate every complaint made to us, particularly if the injustice is limited.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there has been some service improvement and the injustice caused to Mr X is not at a level which warrants an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman