The council has been ordered to send a written apology to the resident, named as Mrs X, and “make a symbolic payment” of £150 in recognition of the “distress caused”. The ombudsman said the distress was caused by “repeatedly failing to collect Mrs X’s recycled waste despite being on an assisted bin collection”.
The Ombudsman warned that when a council “commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services”.
If the situation hasn’t improved in the next three months, the Ombudsman said the council “should consider taking formal action against the contractors and provide the Ombudsman with evidence of this”.
Collections
In a decision handed down on 6 June but published in the last week, the ombudsman said Mrs X had complained to the council several times over the missed collections “to no avail”.
According to the decision document, Mrs X said that, since July 2022, the contractors have failed to collect her recycling on numerous occasions.
“She said she had to send an email to the council every two weeks to advise that the bin had not been emptied.” The evidence provided by the Council shows that Mrs X reported missed recycling bin collections on seven occasions between October 2022 and January 2023.
Mrs X also said the contractors would return to empty the bin the following day but they stopped doing this and, despite her reporting the matter, they did not return and the bin began overflowing.
The document also noted that Mrs X had claimed the council told her “it could do nothing more to resolve the situation. So, in early 2023 she told it she would stop using the recycling bin and put all her waste in the general waste bin”.
Ruling
After analysis the facts of the case, the ombudsman said: “I find the council’s contractors repeatedly failed to empty Mrs X’s recycling bin. This failure to provide an adequate service was fault and caused Mrs X distress, frustration and uncertainty.
“Although the service is provided on the Council’s behalf by a contractor, the Council is ultimately responsible for the service and should take action to ensure that bins are being collected regularly.”
If the assisted recycling collections are not being made regularly, the council should consider formal action
- Ombudsman
Actions
The council has agreed that, within one month, it will send a written apology to Mrs X, make a symbolic payment of £150 to Mrs X, reinstate Mrs X’s recycling bin collection and issue a reminder to its contractor that collections should be made regularly. If a collection is missed, the crew should return within a “reasonable period” to empty the bin.
Nuneaton and Bedworth has also agreed to monitor Mrs X’s assisted recycling collections for three months and provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has done this and what the outcome is.
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