The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s bin staff not always returning her wheeled bins to the front of her property and not always closing the lids. There is insufficient significant injustice caused by the matters complained of to warrant an investigation and an investigation would not result in a different outcome.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council’s bin staff: have failed to always return her wheeled bins to the point where she left them for collection; have sometimes failed to close the bin lids.
Mrs X says she has health problems and cannot collect the bins from the places the staff leave them. She says she has to wait until family visits to get the bins back. Mrs X wants the Council to return every bin appropriately, with the lids closed.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information from Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We recognise bin crews leaving Mrs X’s empty bins away from her house and with the lids open during some collections causes frustration and inconvenience to her from having to wait for family to move them back. But it is not sufficiently significant injustice to justify us investigating this complaint.
In response to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council has reminded bin crews to return her bins to where they collected them from and to close lids. The Council has apologised for the incidents when this has not happened and required the crew to photograph the returned bins, to monitor the service she receives. This is the outcome we would have sought had we investigated here. We will not investigate because an investigation by us of the matter would not result in a different outcome.
We realise Mrs X wishes to remain as independent as possible, but she reports she has health conditions which mean she cannot move her emptied bins without help from others. The Council offers an ‘assisted collection’ scheme for people who find it difficult or impossible to move their own wheeled bins. Assisted collection allows the resident to agree a bin collection and return point with the Council. Use of this service may resolve Mrs X’s concerns about her bins being left away from her property, which is the core of her complaint. If she wishes to apply for assisted collections, Mrs X should contact the Council. It would be for the Council to decide her household’s eligibility for the scheme and the acceptability of any requested collection point.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because: the injustice claimed is not sufficiently significant to warrant an investigation; and investigation of the matter would not result in a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman