The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about her council tax bill. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation and investigation would not add to the one carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council miscalculated her council tax bill and wants the outstanding balance removed.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X told the Council in August 2024 she was moving out of her property to go travelling. The Council wrongly recorded her move as July 2024 and told her she did not owe any further council tax.
When the Council realised its error, it corrected the mistake and sent the revised bill to Miss X’s forwarding address and by email.
Miss X says she did not receive the bill until four months later and asked for the debt to be cancelled.
I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s initial error. This is because the Council apologised, reissued the bill correctly and offered to spread the payments over 12 months. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions since it reissued the bill to justify investigating.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation and investigation would not add to the one carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman