Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council lost his payment for renewal of his garden waste subscription. This is because an investigation by this office would not be able to add to the response the Council has already provided via its own investigation of the matter.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council lost his payment for renewal of his garden waste subscription and delayed in resolving the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Mr X complained the Council lost his payment for renewal of his annual garden waste subscription.
7. The Council said it had sent Mr X three payment reminders followed by a notice of cancellation after his subscription ended. It said it had not received a payment from him for the current year’s subscription. The last payment it received from Mr X was in May 2023. It asked Mr X to provide proof of payment such as his bank statement, payment receipt or the authorisation code which is provided on completion of a payment. The Council said that without Mr X providing proof of payment it could not take any further action on the matter. As a gesture of good will it reactivated Mr X’s garden waste account without the £35 joining fee so that he could pay just the annual subscription charge to renew his subscription and restart the service.
8. Mr X said it was the Council’s error, not his, and that his garden waste service should not stop whilst the matter was resolved. He said the Council missed four garden waste collections in 2023 and the subscription fee should be reduced to reflect this.
9. The Council said it had only one reported missed garden waste collection from Mr X. This was in mid-2023 and the contractor was asked to return and complete the collection following the report.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is nothing further we could add to the response the Council has provided via its own investigation of the matter. Mr X says the payment has been made and lost. The Council says no payment was received and so it has asked Mr X to provide proof of payment. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to provide proof of payment so that the Council can consider it further. We would also request the same information if it was a matter we decided to investigate. Without this being provided there is also insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because a further investigation by this office would not be able to add significantly if at all to the response the Council has already provided via its own investigation of the matter.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman