Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about missed recycling waste collections and a replacement bin. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council causing the complainant a significant personal injustice, and an investigation would not achieve any other worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to regularly collect the communal recycling bin from his block of flats, and has not replaced a bin which he says it damaged and subsequently removed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. With reference to the second and third bullet points above, 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 by an organisation. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included the Council’s complaint responses and clarification from the Council about who is responsible for repairing or replacing a bin.
• information on the Council’s website about the collection schedule for Mr X’s building.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. With reference to paragraphs 2 and 3 above, the Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint for the following reasons:

• The Council says the non-collections on 16 July, 14 and 28 August, and 25 September were due to the bins being contaminated.
• The Council’s website does now show the collection schedule for Mr X’s building.
• The Council repaired a damaged wheel bin in April 2024, but says it has no record of its contractors removing a bin in September 2024. In the absence of any other evidence, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to be able to establish who removed the bin.
• In any event, the Council has explained that where it is unable to repair a bin, it is the responsibility of the landlord/managing agent to provide a replacement.
• I acknowledge Mr X may have been caused some frustration/inconvenience by the changing collection schedule and difficulties in accessing information about this. He also spent some time and effort on contacting the Council about missed collections and damaged bins. However, I am not persuaded that any personal injustice caused was so significant as to warrant us pursuing the matter further.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence that fault by the Council has caused him a significant personal injustice, and it would not achieve any worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman