Summary: Miss X complained the Council have continued to fail to collect her bins, failed to clarify where the collection point is and agreed to arrange assisted collections but have taken no action since. We find the Council was a fault for missed collections, failing to clarify the collection point and delayed communication. This caused Miss X significant stress. To address the injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and review the current process.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains the Council have continued to fail to collect her bins, failed to clarify where the collection point is and agreed to arrange assisted collections but have taken no action since. Miss X said this has caused her significant stress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke with Miss X about her complaint and considered any information provided by her and the Council.
5. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my revised draft decision. I considered their comments before making my final decision.

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What I found

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly, and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and collects green waste once per month.
8. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
9. The guidance states councils can issue fixed penalty notices (FPN) when householders do not follow the Council’s waste collection rules, and their failure to comply does one of the following: causes or is likely to cause a nuisance, has a negative effect or is likely to have a detrimental effect on local amenities.
10. Councils can issue FPNs if householders put waste out so it:

• Causes an obstruction to neighbours, such as forcing people using wheelchairs or buggies to walk on the road.
• Restricts access to the pavement or street, for example leaving waste receptacles (bins or bags) out for several days.
• Is likely to attract vermin like foxes and rats, such as leaving bags or open receptacles out days before a waste collection
• Is unsightly (torn bags or overturned receptables are left out)

The Council’s complaints policy

11. The Council has a two-stage policy. At stage one and two it aims to respond in 15 working days of receipt of the complaint. If it cannot respond by this time, it will provide regular updates at least every two weeks.

What did happen?

12. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.
13. Miss X moved into her property in April 2022. Between May and August 2022, Miss X reported six missed household waste collections and one missed green waste collection in August 2022
14. Miss X complained to the Council in June 2022 under its stage one complaint procedure about the missed collections. She said the collection dates on the Council’s website were incorrect and questioned where the collection point was as the bins were being collected from the top of the road, rather than outside her property. Miss X has a medical condition and cannot take her bins to the end of the road.
15. Miss X told the Council the following month its website lacked information regarding the collection point. She said she wanted to escalate her complaint to the next stage but had not yet received a response.
16. A council officer visited Miss X on 16 July 2022 and agreed to provide her with an assisted collection and said Miss X had agreed verbally to close her complaint.
17. The Council told Miss X on 19 July 2022 it required further time to respond to her complaint. It said it would respond by 9 August 2022.
18. Miss X submitted a stage two complaint to the Council in July 2022. She told the Council the following month, its website was still showing incorrect information.
19. The Council visited Miss X in August 2022. It agreed to communicate with her about the collection days.
20. The Council corrected the collection day information on its internal system and website on 25 August 2022.
21. The Council responded to Miss X’s stage two complaint on 30 August 2022. It said collections were difficult due to traffic calming measures. It said it had spoken to the landlord of Miss X’s property who confirmed he offered a service whereby he wheels bins out to the top of the road for collection. It said as this had been confirmed, an assisted collection was no longer required for Miss X. But monitoring completed by the Council the following month, showed that the bin had not been wheeled out. The Council agreed to keep the assisted collection for Miss X in place.

Analysis

22. Miss X failed to have her household and recycling waste collected on numerous occasions between May and August 2022 despite her contacting the Council each time about this. While we recognise the Council have now put reminders out on its crew’s task sheet which has had an improvement on Miss X’s household waste collection, there are still further issues with her green waste collection. The Council told us this is a different crew and said further monitoring and crew performance conversations are to take place. But these faults have caused significant stress and frustration to Miss X who has spent unnecessary time and trouble in contacting the Council about this.
23. Miss X asked the Council to clarify where the collection point was in June 2022, and again in July 2022. The guidance states councils can issue householders with an FPN if they do not follow waste collection rules. In the Council’s stage two response in August 2022, it said collections had been difficult due to traffic calming measures and said householders now present their bins at the end of the street. The Council told us there is no formal collection point at the location. But Miss X said bins are only collected from the top of the road. The Council said there is no information regarding the collection point on its website and said it is not technically possible to do so. There is no requirement for the Council to have this information on its website. But its failure to make the collection rules clearer is fault and it should have responded to Miss X’s request sooner. This caused significant stress to Miss X who spent time and trouble asking the Council for a response.
24. The Council stated it verbally agreed with Miss X to provide her with assisted collections in July 2022. But in the Council’s stage two response, it said it had spoken to the landlord of Miss X’s property who confirmed he offered a service whereby he wheels bins out to the top of the road for collection and therefore the Council said it now would not provide Miss X with assisted collections. But after monitoring this the following month and realising the bin had not been presented, the Council agreed to provide Miss X with the assisted collections. While we recognise the Council did monitor the situation, between July and August 2022, Miss X failed to have her bins collected five times. The Council also failed to tell Miss X it would continue to provide assisted collections. This caused further stress to Miss X.
25. Miss X told the Council in June and August 2022 the collection dates were incorrect on its website. The Council corrected this error in August. The delay in correcting this is fault. This caused uncertainty to Miss X about when she should be putting her bins out for collection.
26. Miss X initially complained to the Council on 24 June 2022. The Council said following a visit to Miss X’s property on 16 July 2022, the complaint was verbally closed . But the Council said this was not communicated to its complaints team, who then told Miss X she would receive a stage one response by 9 August 2022. Miss X told us the complaint was never closed and that it was agreed there would be further investigation. But we could not now prove this. The lack of communication between teams is fault and I have seen no evidence that all the points raised by Miss X were considered at the time. Miss X escalated her complaint to stage two on 29 July 2022 and the Council responded on 30 August 2022 which was seven days later than the Councils 15-day response times. In that time Miss X contacted the Council to get a response and the Council visited her on 25 August 2022. The delay in responding to Miss X is fault. As four assisted waste collections were missed in August 2022, this fault caused significant stress to Miss X.

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Agreed action

27. To address the injustice caused by fault, within one month of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Miss X for the missed collections and delay in communication.
• Write to Miss X to confirm the assisted collection arrangement and explain where the bin should be located.
• Pay Miss X £150 to acknowledge the significant stress caused by the faults identified in this statement.

28. Within two months of my final decision the Council has agreed to review the collection point and in writing make the waste collection rules clear.
29. The Council has also agreed to monitor Miss X’s bin collections via the crew task sheet for a period of six months.
30. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault causing injustice for the reasons explained in this statement. The above agreed actions provide a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman