In his latest report, ‘Lifting the lid on bin complaints’, the Ombudsman, Michael King, has reported a rise in the percentage of its complaint investigations into council waste and recycling services, from 59% to 81% last year.
With around 40% of councils outsourcing their collection contracts to the private sector, the Ombudsman has seen “insufficient council oversight of those contractors”.
Accountable
Mr King, the LGO, said: “Councils can contract out their waste services, but they cannot wash their hands of it. They are responsible and accountable for delivering those services, and for putting things right when they go wrong. Outsourced should not mean out of touch.”
The report highlights cases of councils blaming contractors but failing to solve the problem, or offering contradictory information to their contractor.
It also adds that these problems are “further heightened” when people pay directly for some of their waste collections – such as garden waste. The LGO explains that people expect a higher quality for these services, but that councils have failed to recognise this.
The report also highlights other common issues, including repeated missed collections, poor complaint handing and monitoring, as well as issues with assisted collections for those with disabilities or mobility problems.
Three months
One case from the report features a woman who had to call her council every fortnight for three months to get her residual waste collected. The council blamed the contractor but did not resolve the issue until the Ombudsman launched an investigation.
Responding to the LGO’s report, Cllr Martin Tett, environment spokesman at the Local Government Association, said: “The Ombudsman receives around 500 complaints about waste collection services a year. This number is very small compared to the millions of households which have waste collected each week across the country.”
Cllr Tett added: “Councils know that having a reliable and efficient waste collection and recycling service is hugely important to residents. It is actually one of the most popular services councils provide with almost 80 per cent of people happy with the way their bins are collected.”
Response
But the Ombudsman emphasised despite the successful collection of thousands of bins, it is how councils respond to complaints “that really matters”.
The Ombudsman has claimed that the uphold rate of over 80% is still significantly higher than the average uphold rate of 53% for all types of investigation.
Ombudsman Michael King said: “I hope councils take onboard the learning points from our report, particularly by properly overseeing contractors; ensuring peoples’ concerns are listened to, and appreciating that contracting out and charging for services brings with it different expectations from the public.”
Cllr Tett said: “Councils have seen their core central government funding cut by £2.2 billion this year. Faced with such funding pressures, many are increasingly having to look at innovative and cost-effective ways of delivering services, including collecting waste. Councils will, of course, examine the findings of this report for lessons to learn, particularly around monitoring outsourced contracts to ensure they continue to provide value for money and the high-quality services our residents expect.”
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