The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X complaint the Council has not responded to her concerns about her household waste collection. That is because further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council had failed to respond to her concerns about her household waste collection. She said the waste crew were lifting the bins over her gate instead of collecting them correctly and were slamming the bins. She said the Council had failed to register her complaints.
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 provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s waste collection service. The Council confirmed it received complaints from Mrs X in January 2025 around the waste collection crew slamming her gate and incorrectly lifting the waste over her garden gate. The Council provided complaint responses in January and February 2025. It confirmed a supervisor had met with Mrs X and would speak to the crews about her concerns. That is appropriate action, therefore further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.
In addition, we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. Although frustrating for Mrs X, I do not consider the Council’s actions have caused a significant enough injustice to justify our involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman