The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Ms X complains the Council has not dealt with her Council Tax properly. The Council sent incorrect information to a different Council and did not tell Ms X she shouldn’t pay Council Tax. Ms X was wrongly charged Council Tax by the other Council. The Council has agreed to pay Ms X £200 and has made service improvements. It has also agreed to review letters when providing accommodation.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X, complains the Council has not dealt with her Council Tax correctly because: it has sent incorrect information to a second Council; and It did not tell her she should not have to pay Council Tax in temporary accommodation.
Ms X says she has had to pay Council Tax unnecessarily and has suffered distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I spoke to Ms X about his complaint and considered documents she provided. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response and the supporting documents it provided.
Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
What happened?
This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
Council 1 were responsible for providing Ms X with housing. Ms X lived in temporary accommodation provided by Council 1 between August 2014 and October 2016. The accommodation was within the area of Council 2, who were responsible for collecting Council Tax for the property.
In January 2018, Council 1 contacted Council 2 to clarify that Ms X had not been living in the property between October 2016 and January 2017 In 2021, Council 1 provided information to Council 2 about how long Ms X had been living in the property.
Ms X has been charged Council Tax by Council 2.
Analysis Incorrect information The Council agrees it sent incorrect information to Council 2 in 2021. It says this should not have happened and should have been resolved in 2018. This is fault by the Council. Ms X has been charged Council Tax and had to spend time and trouble dealing with circumstances which should not have recurred.
Council Tax liability There is no evidence that Council 1 informed Ms X that she should not need to pay Council Tax at the property when she moved there in 2014.
There is no evidence that Council 1 informed Council 2 that Ms X should not be liable for Council tax in 2014 when she moved there.
Emails from 2018, after Ms X moved out of the property, show that Council 1 told Council 2 about the correct dates Ms X had lived in the property and that she should not have been liable for Council Tax while she lived there.
This is fault by the Council. Ms X was wrongly charged Council Tax by Council 2 from 2014. Council 2 has now reviewed Ms X’s Council Tax account and will refund her any overpaid amount. Ms X has suffered distress as a result of the Council’s fault. Council 1 has apologised to Ms X for the inconvenience caused and offered to pay her £200. This is an appropriate partial remedy.
Action by the Council The Council has also identified necessary service improvements as a result of Ms X’s complaint, including: Providing advice to staff to check move out dates to avoid errors.
Agreed action
To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of this decision: Review correspondence sent out when providing temporary accommodation and consider incorporating a paragraph advising people of their Council Tax status in relation to their housing provision.
Final decision
I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Ms X. I have now completed my investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman