The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s decision to introduce a charge for its garden waste collection service, or its failure to respond to an associated complaint. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. I t is unlikely we would conclude that procedural fault has affected the Council’s decision, we could not change the policy, and it would not be a good use of our resources to investigate the complaints process in isolation.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to introduce a charge for its garden waste collection service, and that it has not responded to his associated complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman can 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We consider whether there was procedural fault in the way decisions are reached. If there is evidence of fault in the process, we consider whether this is likely to have affected the outcome And it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X, and our Assessment Code.
My assessment
I appreciate Mr X disagrees with the Council’s decision to introduce a charge for the garden waste collection service.
But we are not an appeal body, and we do not set Council policy. It is for each council to set its charges and we cannot intervene in that process. Councils do not have to collect garden waste, but it is a service it can choose to provide. It is a common service that was once free but now chargeable in many areas.
Therefore, and with reference to paragraph 2 above, I do not consider the Ombudsman should pursue the part of the complaint about the decision to introduce the charge. It is unlikely we would find evidence of procedural fault affecting the Council’s decision, and we cannot instruct the Council to revoke the policy.
Where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issue being complained about, we would not normally pursue Mr X’s associated concerns about the Council’s complaint handling in isolation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would conclude that procedural fault has affected the Council’s decision to introduce the charge, we could not change the policy, and it would not be a good use of our resources to investigate his concerns about the complaints process in isolation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman