The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in Council tax billing. The Council has apologised and offered a payment plan. There is insufficient remaining injustice, and further investigation would not achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council failed to inform her of the tax she was due to pay for five years. She says it has provided confusing information around the repayment of this.
She says she has been left confused and feels harassed by the Council’s correspondence. She feels she should not have to pay the outstanding Council Tax bill.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X Council tax account was placed on hold by the Council. It has accepted that it failed to remove the hold when it should have and this meant Ms X was not informed of the Council tax she was due to pay between 2020 and 2024. In 2025 the Council sent Ms X notice of her outstanding tax payments due.
The Council in response to the complaint apologised for its failure to take Ms X’s account off hold and the delay in informing her of the tax amounts she needed to pay. It also apologised for its issues with communication whilst dealing with her complaint.
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint as there is insufficient evidence of injustice. While I appreciate Ms X has received a large bill for five years of payment. We could not direct the Council to cancel any payment due. She has arranged an extended payment plan with the Council to pay smaller amounts over a longer period. The Council has already done what we would ask it to do if we had investigated the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient personal injustice, and further investigation would not achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman