The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax because the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
Ms X complains that the Council wrongly removed a single occupancy discount and then failed to refund the amount involved.
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) 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says that she noted that the Council had removed a single occupancy discount incorrectly in 2023. She complained in 2025 and the Council agreed to refund the amount involved. The Council reduced her current liability rather than send a payment for that amount to her. She says she has debt problems and would have preferred a direct payment.
The Council’s decision to refund the amount involved is a remedy to this complaint. Whilst I appreciate that Ms X would have preferred a one off direct payment, the reduction in her current Council tax means that she still fully benefits from the review. The Council’s decision to adjust her Council tax bill is not in our view, fault. Nor would the injustice caused by such an action be sufficient to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the matter has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman