Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about missed refuse collections caused by strike action. This is because the law prevents us from investigate matters that affect most of the residents in a council’s area.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has failed to collect bins for several weeks due to strike action by refuse workers. Mr X also complains about how the Council dealt with his complaint about this matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is about a matter that affects most of the residents in the Council’s area. This places the matter out of our jurisdiction as reference in paragraph 3.
7. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his complaint. This is because it is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling when we cannot investigate the substantive issues raised in the compliant.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it affects most of the residents in the Council’s area.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman