Summary: Ms D complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect her household waste. We have upheld the complaint, because the Council has failed to evidence how it monitored Ms D’s case and completed the investigation. The Council has agreed to create written procedures for monitoring missed waste collections.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Ms D) says the Council has repeatedly missed regular waste collections for her home.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future 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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What I have and have not investigated

4. I have investigated events from January 2023 to March 2024. Any problems after that period would need to form a new complaint to the Council to allow it an opportunity to respond.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have spoken to Ms D and considered the information she supplied. I asked the Council questions and examined its responses. I also took account of the Ombudsman’s focus report from 2017, Lifting the lid in bin complaints: learning to improve waste and recycling services.
6. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

What happened

7. Ms D lives in a street with three different access points. In February 2023 she told the Council the bins for the whole street had not been collected. The Council closed the report on 9 February after the collections were carried out. Ms D made two missed collection reports in April. On 29 May she reported that a green bin had been collected but her black bin had been missed. On 14 June she told the Council that again the green bin had been collected but other types of bins had not been emptied. She said this proved that vehicle access was not the cause of the problem. On 20 June she reported more missed collections and asked the Council “please tell me why”. She also submitted a formal complaint that day stating there were regular missed collections. This was an ongoing issue and the Council had failed to resolve it. She had previously been told there were access issues for the waste collection vehicles but there were three access points for the street. The Council replied on 14 July. It said the Waste Supervisor (Supervisor) had spoken to the collection crew. The crew had logged access issues on collection days caused by inappropriately parked cars. This could happen on more than one street with cars parked at junctions. Where there was an access issue the crew would try to return on the same day. If they still could not access the street, they would pass the details to the smaller vehicle collection to try and gain access instead. The Supervisor was looking at “possible further parking restrictions/ changes to collections”. They would also liaise with the collection crews to see if access was possible. If the issues continued the Council would review the situation and look at other ways to find a resolution.
8. At the end of July there was another missed collection and in September one missed collection day was reported. The Council says the Supervisor met with a Councillor in September to witness the access issue. I do not have any records of that meeting and so cannot verify what was witnessed or any actions that may have been discussed. On 21 November Ms D told the Council there had been a further missed collection with only some bins then being emptied on a revisit. On 23 November Ms D complained to the Council. She said there were several access points for the street and disputed the issue was due to blocked access. There were two missed collections in December and the Council noted there had been an issue with vehicles parking on street corners and junctions.
9. The Council replied to Ms D’s complaint on 30 January 2024. It said collection crews frequently had access issues even when trying to enter the street from different points. When a collection could not be made because of access the Council would try to recollect that same day. If that was still not possible due to blocked access it would book for a recollection. The Council said it had previously written to residents on the street and neighbouring street about the parking issue. The Supervisor had also met a Councillor on site to witness the problem. They had supplied a resident with cones to place where parking was a problem, and this had worked for a short period but was stopped for “unknown reasons” and the access issues had returned. The Council also noted it had missed a collection on 29 January. It had added Ms D onto its monitoring list for the next eight weeks to ensure the issues were identified and resolved. I do not have evidence to show what level of monitoring work took place on the case in 2024. I understand from Ms D that she has not experienced missed collections recently.

What should have happened

10. The Council has waste collection crews that collect one type of bin, that means two different bins may be collected on the same day but will be picked up by different crews who attend at separate times. Where the crew cannot access a street to make collections, and it has sufficient time, it will try to recollect later the same day. If the access issue remains the crew will log on their in-cab device about the access problem and a follow-up collection is automatically scheduled for the next working day. If a missed collection is reported to the Council by a resident the Council aims to collect the waste within two working days.
11. The Council uses standard size waste collection vehicles. It temporarily hired a smaller vehicle to use specifically for missed collections caused by access issues. It says access issues across the Council area reduced and the vehicle was used less, meaning it was not economical for the Council to retain it.
12. The Council says its Supervisors carry out daily monitoring checks on collections but these “are not always recorded”. When a Supervisor sees there is an access issue preventing collections they will usually talk to the crew and might undertake a site visit or carry out “any other actions” that are required.
13. Supervisors carry vehicle access letters to distribute to residents in areas where they are aware of ongoing access problems for crews. The letter asks residents to park in way that will not cause access problems for waste crews.

Was there fault by the Council

14. The Council says the cause of the missed collections to Ms D’s street is due to access issues resulting from poorly parked vehicles. This can affect one or more entry points to the street at different times of the day and can result in one type of bin being collected and another missed depending on access at that time of day. The Council also says it has monitored the case and sought to resolve the problem.
15. When considering a complaint and whether there is fault, I need to be able to evidence what actions took place. Contemporaneous evidence (such as notes taken on the day of a site visit or a log of monitoring activity and its outcome) is essential to say whether or not a council has acted in line with its procedures and provided a reasonable service. In this case I have been unable to find sufficient evidence that would allow me to say with any certainty: what monitoring activity was carried out by the Council, whether that activity was assessed, whether options to resolve any identified causes of missed collection was taken forward. I appreciate the Council carries out a large volume of waste collections each day and that it has limited resources. However, good practice requires a council to ensure its monitoring arrangements are robust and can evidenced. I have been unable to evidence the key actions by the Council, including whether the Council did look at “possible further parking restrictions/ changes to collections” as stated in July 2023, what was done at and after the site meeting in September or providing vehicle access letters to residents. In the absence of the type of evidence I need, I have found the Council at fault because I cannot say its monitoring system is sufficient.

Did the fault cause an injustice

16. Ms D is left uncertain about the extent of the monitoring and activity to resolve the missed collections in her case.

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Agreed action

17. To resolve the fault identified in this case the Council should ensure it has robust, written, waste collection monitoring arrangements in place. It should have a system that enables it to provide evidence of its effective monitoring in future cases. It is not for the Ombudsman to prescribe what type of monitoring should be in place, but the Council should ensure that it keeps a reasonable level of evidence on a case so that it can show what monitoring (and other remedial actions) took place and how it was assessed.
18. The Council has agreed with this recommendation and will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above action. It should set out how it intends to improve its procedures within the next six weeks and give a date for when a new written procedure will be in place.

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Final decision

19. I have upheld the complaint and completed the investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman