A YORK woman with mobility problems whose assisted bin collections were repeatedly missed was among those compensated after complaining to the watchdog for local government.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered City of York Council to apologise and pay £200 to the woman whose complaint was among seven upheld from April 2023 to March 2024.

The Ombudsman’s Local Administration in England Commission Chair Amerdeep Somal said they would continue to hold authorities to account and recommend action to remedy injustice.

York Council’s Governance Director Bryn Roberts said they would continue to work closely with the Ombudsman and strive to improve their services.

It comes as a yearly Ombudsman review showed it upheld seven of the 41 complaints made against the council in the 12 months up to March 2024.

Seven complaints were upheld out of the nine investigated, a rate of 78 per cent compared an average of 79 per cent for similar organisations.

The total number of complaints made against the council fell from 74 to 41 year-on-year, with 19 upheld in the year up to March 2023.

The decision to order compensation for the woman whose waste collections were missed came after the council told her twice measures had been put in place to fix the issue.

An investigator found a misunderstanding about where her waste was supposed to be collected from had led to collections being missed for months until she complained in October 2023.

A man whose waste collections were missed six times from December 2022 to August 2023 was also compensated with £150 after his complaint was upheld.

An investigation found the council had not apologised for the missed collections and instead told him to complain to the Ombudsman.

The council was ordered to pay £250 to a man after ruling it failed to address his complaint over returning his mother to a care home where she previously fell.

The Ombudsman found its failure to properly address the complaint over the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had caused avoidable distress and frustration.

An investigation also found the council had charged a man for more building control visits than happened before issuing a completion certificate for a loft conversion in 2022.

The council was ordered to pay £250 and was found to have kept poor records after the Ombudsman ruled only four visits took place rather than five.

Of the nine investigated complaints, two related to adult care services, one to education and children’s services, two to environmental services and public protection and one to housing.

Two complaints regarding planning and development and one related to highways and transport were investigated but not upheld.

The Ombudsman was satisfied that the council had implemented its recommendations in all cases where complaints were upheld.

Ombudsman Local Administration in England Commission Chair Mr Somal said they recognised the financial pressure councils were under but they would continue working to improve public services.

Council Governnance Director Mr Roberts said the Ombudsman’s feedback on the complaints provided them with advice on good practice and areas where they could improve.

The council officer said: “Our commitment to customer service improvement, a key part of our Council Plan, as well as our Improvement Plan arising from the council’s recent Peer Review, are both helping us focus on getting it right for our customers first time.”