The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Dr X’s complaint about a missed refuse collection. This is because the matter has not caused Dr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Dr X, complains about a missed refuse collection and about the impact of this.
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 effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We do not start an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Dr X complained to the Council about a missed refuse collection. Dr X says he continually reported the missed collection but the Council did not collect it and so he had to dispose of it himself.
In its complaint response, the Council apologised that the crew did not return to collect the reported missed collection and apologised for the inconvenience this caused Dr X.
We will not investigate Dr X’s complaint. This is because, whilst I acknowledge the missed collection caused some minor inconvenience it did not cause Dr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant a further investigation by this office. The Council has apologised for the missed collection and there is nothing further we would add or recommend. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and we must focus our limited public resources on investigating those complaints where a person has suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of fault by a body in our jurisdiction.
Final decision
We will not investigate Dr X’s complaint because the matter has not caused him any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to merit an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman