The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint council tax support because the Council has offered to revisit the issues.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, disagrees with the way the Council has managed his council tax support (CTS), particularly in relation to backdating.
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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the Council ended his CTS in 2022 and did not respond to his request that officers should contact him if they needed more information. He says he received a large council tax bill and the Council did not honour an agreement to backdate the CTS to when the claim ended in 2022.
The Council responded to the complaint and signposted Mr X to us.
In response to my enquiries the Council said its contact centre dealt with the complaint rather than the benefits team. It said the benefits team would welcome the opportunity to address the complaint from the benefits perspective.
I have decided to exercise discretion and close the complaint on that basis the Council will re-visit the complaint and address it from the benefits perspective. It is reasonable to allow the Council this opportunity because it is a dispute about a benefit. In addition, the Council has applied a 90 day hold on taking recovery action on the council tax arrears for 2022/23 and 2023/24. This means Mr X will not be disadvantaged by the Council taking another look at the complaint. Mr X will be able to make another complaint to us if he remains dissatisfied after the benefits team has finished dealing with the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because I am satisfied with the Council’s offer to re-visit the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman