The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s management of his council tax account. This is because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s management of his council tax account. He says that the Council have sent him conflicting information and bills which has caused him a lot of stress. Mr X wants the Council to cancel his council tax bill as a gesture of good will.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 or continue an investigation if we decide: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the Council have sent him conflicting bills regarding his council tax.
In response, the Council has apologised and applied a credit of £500 to Mr X’s account as an ‘exceptional circumstances payment’ and offered a payment plan for the remaining balance.
As the Council apologised and explained why Mr X’s council tax bill changed, we would not be able to add to this investigation carried out by the Council. Mr X has requested a refund of the remaining balance from his council tax account. However, we cannot require the Council to cancel council tax applied correctly. We therefore cannot achieve the resolution Mr X is seeking.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman