Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a missed garden waste collection. This is because the matter complained about has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about a missed garden waste collection.

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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 or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council about a missed garden waste collection. Despite chasing this with the Council it was not collected until the next scheduled collection two weeks later. The garden waste collection service is an optional service paid for via an annual subscription. Mr X says the Council also missed three collections between 2021 and 2023.
9. The Council apologised for the missed collection and the inconvenience and frustration it caused Mr X. It said it aims to return within 3 days to missed collections but this is not always possible due to service demands.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because whilst the missed collection caused Mr X some frustration and minor inconvenience it has not caused him any significant personal injustice which is so serious that it warrants an investigation by this office. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We have limited public resources and must focus those on investigating complaints where a person has suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of fault by a body in our jurisdiction. This is not the case here.
11. Mr X says he also had three missed collections between 2021 and 2023. We will not consider those in this complaint as a complaint about those events is late and so lies outside our jurisdiction. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. I see no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider those as part of this complaint now.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matter has not caused him any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman