Ombudsman slams lack of oversight of outsourced waste collection services

Insufficient oversight of external contractors is one of the main issues behind a rising number of complaints about waste collection, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) has said.

A report, Lifting the lid on bin complaints, revealed that the Ombudsman upheld 81% of its complaint investigations into council waste and recycling services last year. This was up from 59% the year before. The watchdog receives around 500 complaints a year about these services.

The LGO said that many of its upheld complaints featured councils “not taking full ownership of ensuring service issues are responded to properly”. 

This left residents frustrated at having to raise concerns about their bin collections to their council "time and time again", the watchdog added.

Other common issues the Ombudsman saw from its investigations included: 

• Repeated missed collections – “sometimes compounded by the infrequent nature of collections”;
• Poor complaint handling and problems monitoring reported issues;
• Issues with assisted collections for those with disabilities or mobility problems.

Michael King, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, 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.

“Whether the service is outsourced or not, we shouldn’t be upholding 81% of the complaints we investigate – this is too much, particularly for a service that should be relatively simple to get right.”

King added: “Many thousands of bins are collected successfully every day in England. But the complaints we investigate tell the story of real public experiences. No matter how trivial it may seem to some, people are right to expect councils to take their concerns seriously and act on them. When things go wrong, it’s how councils put them right that really matters.

“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.” 

The report contained stories from some of the Ombudsman’s investigations, including a woman who had to phone her council every fortnight for three months to get her rubbish collected, and a man receiving assisted collections who did not have his bin returned to the right place for 10 months.

Responding to the report, Cllr Martin Tett, Environment spokesman at the Local Government Association, said the number of complaints received by the Ombudsman was “very small compared to the millions of households which have waste collected each week across the country”.

He 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% of people happy with the way their bins are collected.

“Councils have seen their core central government funding cut by £2.2bn 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.”