The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about missed household waste collections. This is because part of the complaint is late and Mr X could have approached the Ombudsman earlier. There is not enough injustice from recent events and Mr X can pursue a complaint with the Council if there are further issues.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about missed household waste collections.
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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with 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, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, it would be reasonable for the person to ask for an organisation review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X first complained to the Council in May 2021 about missed household waste collections. In June 2021, following a further missed collection, he asked the Council to escalate his complaint. In its responses the Council apologised and arranged for a supervisor to monitor Mr X’s collections.
In July 2022, Mr X again reported a missed collection. The Council said it had added his address to the monitoring list. Mr X could make a fresh complaint about the missed collection.
Missed waste collections are annoying but they do happen from time to time. While I understand Mr X's frustrations, we will not start an investigation into his complaint.
As explained in paragraph 3, we expect people to complain to us within 12 months of them becoming aware of a problem. The collections missed last year took place more than 12 months ago. That part of his complaint is therefore late. I see no reason why Mr X could not have complained to us much earlier.
I have not seen any evidence of missed collections between June 2021 and July 2022. The injustice from the missed collection in July 2022 would not be enough to warrant an investigation.
Also, the Council has also not yet had the chance to respond to a formal complaint about the latest issue. We will not normally investigate when that is the case. If there were further issues, Mr X could complain to the Council, and then make a fresh complaint to the Ombudsman. We could then decide if an investigation was warranted.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because: Part of it is late.
The injustice from recent events is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.
Mr X can pursue a complaint with the Council if there are further issues.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman