The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax payments as the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
Ms X complains that the Council wrongly recorded her Council tax payments which resulted in a summons.
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 or continue with 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 the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says that the Council wrongly recorded her payments (by standing order) of Council tax which resulted in a summons from the Council. The Council says that, as the payments did not match the amounts sought in a direct debit, the Council automatically recorded them against arrears which had accrued the previous year.
The Council apologised for the error and withdrew the summons. Payments have now been recorded correctly.
Whilst I appreciate that Ms X would have experienced some time and trouble in complaining, I am not persuaded that this would warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman