The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We have discontinued our investigation of this complaint about assisted bin collections. This is because the Council has said it will investigate further and reintroduce monitoring, and there is little more we could add to this at present.
The complaint
I will refer to the complainant as Mrs P.
Mrs P complains the Council consistently fails to collect her bins in accordance with its assisted collection procedure.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended) 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I reviewed Mrs P’s correspondence with the Council, and sought further information from the Council.
I also shared a copy of this decision with each party for their comments.
What I found
Mrs P and her husband both have disabilities, which mean they cannot move their bins out to the kerb for collection in the normal way. For this reason, the Council has provided them with an assisted collection for some years.
In April 2023 Mrs P complained to the Council about a missed recycling collection. The Council responded in May, apologising for this and saying it had reminded the crew Mrs P’s address needed an assisted collection.
In August, Mrs P complained again. She said she had reported another missed recycling collection, which the Council had now recorded as closed because the bin had not been presented. The Council replied in September. It apologised again and said the crew supervisor had attended and confirmed the bins had been emptied, and would monitor the next two collections to ensure they were being carried out properly.
Mrs P subsequently complained again about another missed collection. The Council replied in October, explaining this was because a different crew had been carrying out the collections. It noted, however, that Mrs P had otherwise not reported any more issues since the monitoring.
In November Mrs P approached the Ombudsman. On the same date she made another complaint to the Council, this time saying she had reported a missed collection which the Council had now wrongly recorded as complete. The Council responded in December, saying it had issued a new reminder to the crew and would carry out further monitoring.
In January Mrs P complained a final time, again about a missed collection which the Council was saying it had returned to complete when it had not. The Council replied to explain this was because of changes in staff over the festive period, but the crew supervisor had now confirmed the collection had been completed.
Legislative background Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
Councils normally expect people to move their bins to the pavement in front of their property, to allow it to be easily collected. However, a council may decide to provide an assisted collection to a person if they are unable to move their bins because of a disability. Under an assisted collection, the crew will enter the person’s property, such as their garden or driveway, to collect the bins, and then return them to their storage place afterwards.
Analysis I spoke to Mrs P at the end of February, and she explained that, since making her last complaint in January, her bins were now being emptied consistently. However, she was now finding that the crew was not returning the bins to their driveway, and instead leaving the bins some way down the street.
I put this to the Council and asked for its comments. In response, it explained this was a new development, with Mrs P not having reported a similar problem since March 2023. It also commented that the crew supervisors had noted the bins were being returned to the correct location on those collections they had monitored.
However, the Council said it would now carry out a further stage 2 complaint investigation, and that it would also arrange another eight weeks of monitoring of the collections.
It is clear there has been a series of problems with Mrs P’s collections, affecting different bins, and that the efforts the Council has made to rectify the problems have not been entirely successful.
Unfortunately there is no way for me to determine the root cause of this. We do not have the power or means to intervene in or supervise the Council’s day-to-day operations. And, for the same reason, I cannot identify any particular course of action the Council should take to remedy the problems with Mrs P’s collections. With complaints like these, we are therefore generally reliant on councils to investigate the matter themselves.
This being so, I do not consider further investigation by the Ombudsman to be a useful exercise at the current time. This is not, in any way, intended to dismiss or minimise Mrs P’s complaint; but merely to recognise that the most I could likely do here is recommend the Council carry out more monitoring of the collections. As the Council has already proposed this, there is nothing further I can do here, except to urge Mrs P to continue reporting to the Council any missed or un-returned bin in good time, to ensure the Council’s records are comprehensive.
Final decision
I have discontinued my investigation.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman