The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her Council tax account. The Council has provided a suitable remedy, and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council provided misleading information about council tax arears and then pursued her for council tax debt.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and 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(6) & 24A(7), 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
The Council issued Miss X with a court summons for outstanding council tax arrears. Miss X contacted the Council and made a payment covering the arrears and summons costs. Due to a system error, the payment was taken twice.
Miss X later informed the Council she was leaving the property. The Council recalculated her council tax account and, because the duplicate payments had been credited, the account showed a credit. The Council refunded this credit to Miss X.
After the refund had been issued, Miss X’s bank contacted the Council to reclaim the duplicate payment. This resulted in the account returning to arrears, and the Council issued a further summons.
The Council accepted it did not issue a final notice to Miss X before issuing the later summons. It withdrew the summons and associated costs. The Council also withdrew the costs from the earlier summons. The Council has advised Miss X it will issue a new demand for the outstanding council tax arrears.
Miss X says the Council should not pursue the council tax arrears because she believed the account was settled when the Council issued the refund.
The Council apologised for issuing the summons without first sending a demand notice and removed the associated costs. The Council also removed the costs from the earlier correctly issued summons. While I recognise this situation caused Miss X distress, the Council has already provided a suitable remedy in line with our guidance. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The Council have provided a suitable remedy, and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman