The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax billing because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complains that the Council unreasonably delayed issuing her a new Council tax bill after she had moved house.
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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(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 moved house in June 2024 and notified the Council. The Council asked for further clarification as the notification was unclear. The Council tax bill for the new address was finally issued in September 2024. Ms X says that she had to pay more per month for the new Council tax bill due to the delay.
The Council points out that, as no Council tax was paid for the earlier period, no additional Council tax has been paid by Ms X.
Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
Whilst I accept that there was some time and trouble caused to Ms X I do not consider this sufficient to warrant investigation of the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice caused to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman