The decision from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was handed down in June but published by the body earlier this week.
The complainant, named as Ms X, had complained that the council failed to regularly collect recycling from her home since spring 2022. She also said that refuse workers have been “rude to and have discriminated against her because of her gender and race, causing her significant distress and upset”.
She wanted the council “to assign a different collection crew and ensure that her bins are collected consistently”.
In ruling, the ombudsman said while it did “not see any evidence” on the case with regards to race, it did note that the council was at fault for not noticing a pattern of missed collection requests from Ms X’s home.
It ordered Birmingham to apologise to Ms X, pay Ms X £300 to recognise the frustration caused by the missed collection and provide evidence to the ombudsman this has taken place.
This is the third time in the last two years the council has been ordered to pay by the ombudsman.
In November 2021, the council had to pay £150 for not dealing with “bickering crews” (see letsrecycle.com story) while a year later it ordered Birmingham to pay £200 each to three residents to “recognise the frustration and difficulties” caused by problems with the service (see letsrecycle.com story). It was also criticised in 2019.
‘Solution’
Cllr Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment at Birmingham city council, said: “We recently introduced an in-cab IT solution in all of our waste collection vehicles, which allows crews to record the collections they make and reasons where individual bins cannot be collected.
“Depot managers now have a real-time view of each crew’s progress and, where necessary, can re-allocate resources to ensure every collection round is fully completed each day. Since its implementation, evidence has shown that the system is helping to reduce the number of missed collections and the data we are collecting is helping us to identify reoccurring problems.
“Other benefits of the system also include: up-to-date data showing crews which properties need assistance with collections; navigation for any new or temporary crews unfamiliar with the area; less paperwork, data that helps make rounds more efficient, therefore reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions.”
Dispute
The dispute centred on the four months between July and October 2022. The ruling says Ms X reported three quarters of her recycling collections as missed to the council. Birmingham’s records show it arranged extra collections each time Ms X reported.
As the missed collections grew, Ms X complained to the council in November 2022, the ruling says. It adds that Birmingham replied to Ms X’s complaint and apologised for the missed collection and any frustration this has caused.
“However, there is no evidence the council took more action about Ms X’s complaint that there had been a pattern of missed collections over several months,” the Ombudsman said.
As missed collections continued, Ms X told the council in early December 2022 that she believed the collection crew were “deliberately not collecting her recycling and the crew were discriminating against her because of her race and gender,” the ombudsman explained.
In mid-December 2022, the ruling added that Ms X challenged the collection crew shortly after they did not collect her recycling. She said the crew told her “they did not have to collect her recycling because she had not left this close enough to the road”. Ms X later told the Council the crew refused to give her their names and were rude to her.
Prompt identification and investigation by the council could have avoided Ms. X’s recurrent reporting
- Ombudsman’s ruling
Findings
The Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that Ms. X consistently reported missed recycling collections for four months before formally complaining. The ombudsman said the council’s failure to recognise this recurring issue indicated a lack of effective systems.
According to the ombudsman, the council “had the authority to assign collection points for bins, but it failed to inform Ms. X until January 2023, with detailed instructions in February 2023”. This delay, coupled with a confrontation between Ms. X and the collection crew, led to further frustration.
The Ombudsman stated that “prompt identification and investigation by the council could have avoided Ms. X’s recurrent reporting of missed collections and potential clashes with the collection crew.” While the confrontation’s details remain uncertain, a heated exchange did occur. However, there’s insufficient evidence to definitively link the crew’s reaction to Ms. X’s race or gender, the ruling said.
Birmingham council runs an in-house service and serves around 1.1 million people. It recorded a 22.8% recycling rate in 2021/22
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