The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about changes to the complainant’s council tax and council tax support. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because the complainant could have used her appeal rights.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about frequent changes to her direct debit for council tax and a lack of communication. She suggests the council tax support (CTS) decisions are wrong because her income does not change. Mrs X wants compensation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
If a claimant receives Universal Credit (UC), administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Council must use the income figure on the UC award to calculate the CTS. Any change to the UC award will mean the Council has to produce a new council tax bill.
In August Mrs X queried why her direct debit had not been taken for her council tax and why the amount had increased. She did not get a reply so in September she complained about frequent changes in her direct debit for the council tax. She also complained that sometimes the payment was not taken which meant she had to pay more the following month. The Council explained that each month it receives a notification from the DWP about Mrs X’s UC causing a readjustment of her CTS. This, in turn, meant her council tax increased or decreased, causing a change in the direct debit. It said it must give 14 days notice of a direct debit change which means the payment may be delayed until the next month. This meant the Council did not take a payment in May or August and a higher amount was taken the following month.
As an alternative the Council offered a fixed direct debit for a few months which would be regularly reviewed. Or, it said Mrs X can move to on-line payments. The Council apologised because it could have suggested moving the direct debit to later in the month which might ease some of the difficulties. The Council also invited Mrs X to set up a payment plan. Mrs X was due to move in October so the Council said that, from then, her payments would remain static until the outstanding council tax was paid.
Mrs X questions whether the CTS awards are correct because her income remains the same. She also says the Council has not provided a breakdown and has not explained why her council tax increased from £222 to £600.She says the Council delayed telling her about alternative payment options.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council explained it must reassess the CTS based on the DWP notifications and this causes changes in the council tax payable. It also explained why this can cause delays with the direct debits and it suggested alternatives to direct debit. Mrs X says the Council delayed providing alternative payment methods but the information was provided in September, one month after she made her enquiry.
In addition, Mrs X has access to her account on-line so can see more information about the amount due and the payments made. I appreciate Mrs X may find the frequent changes inconvenient and frustrating but this is due to the complexities of the benefit system rather than fault by the Council. And, while she had to pay a higher amount in some months, this was balanced by not paying anything in the months when the Council could not take the direct debit.
I also will not start an investigation because Mrs X could have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal if she thought any of the CTS decisions were wrong. It is reasonable to expect her to appeal because the tribunal is the appropriate body to determine disputes about CTS decisions.
Final decision
We will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and Mrs X could have used her appeal rights.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman