The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the administration of a council tax account as there is insufficient remaining injustice to warrant our further involvement.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council failed to take three direct debit payments for council tax and then gave her contradictory information about how this would be dealt with. Miss X says this caused her stress and anxiety and this was made worse by Council staff advising her to cancel her direct debit until the matter was resolved.
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 any remaining injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In its stage two complaint response, the Council addressed each aspect of Miss X’s complaint and explained what had gone wrong. It rectified the account by spreading the missing payments out over future instalments and apologised to Miss X for the distress caused.
I recognise that Miss X remains unhappy with what took place, but we will not investigate as I do not consider there is sufficient remaining injustice to justify our further involvement. I am satisfied the Council’s action remedy the injustice caused to Miss X, in the most part. We have limited resources and must direct them to the most serious cases.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient remaining injustice arising from it to justify our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman