The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council incorrectly continuing to issue council tax exemption letters to Mrs X. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and Mrs X could appeal to the Tribunal.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council incorrectly continued to issue exemption letters to her, which she says led her to believe she remained exempt to pay council tax. But she said the Council is seeking repayment. Mrs X says this has caused her financial and emotional stress. She wants the Council to cancel or reduce the charges.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(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
When Mrs X applied for a student exemption, she included her course end date as part of the process. The Council then continued to issue bills showing a student exemption between 2023 and 2025, after Mrs X had left university.
When Mrs X later moved address and updated the Council, it identified the error. The Council decided Mrs X was liable for council tax between 2023 and 2025. Mrs X disputes this because she says the error was the Council’s fault and she should not have to pay.
The Council acknowledged the fault, but said Mrs X was aware of her responsibility to report changes and said there was sufficient information available at the time for her to query the bills she was receiving.
We normally investigate only where any significant personal injustice is caused as a direct result of the actions or inactions of a council. I do not consider that test is met here. I recognise Mrs X says she was new to the UK and relied on the Council’s information. However, she knew she was no longer attending the course, so she could reasonably have queried the continuing exemption bills sooner.
We also cannot provide the outcome Mrs X is seeking. Mrs X has the right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to appeal because the tribunal is free to use and it is the appropriate body to determine council tax liability disputes.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and Mrs X can appeal to the Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman