Harborough District Council (19 019 333)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax support
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Mar 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a council tax bill. This is because the complainant has a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The Ombudsman will not investigate other aspects of the complaint as there is insufficient evidence of significant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, states that the Council failed to correctly assess his financial position resulting in an incorrect council tax bill and failed to inform its enforcement agents that the debt had been reviewed.
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 must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe there is another body better placed to consider this complaint or the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. This includes the Valuation Tribunal, which deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liabilities and council tax support or reduction.
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered information provided by the Council and Mr X. I also sent a draft version of this decision to Mr X for his comment.
What I found
- Mr X has told us he is a student who has received very little income since January 2019. At the start of that year he applied to the Council for council tax support and a student exemption. This took some time to arrange, with several exchanges of correspondence between Mr X and the Council.
- While these discussions were under way, a council tax bill for 2019/20 was issued to Mr X which did not take into account his application for support. Mr X did not pay this bill despite reminders. The Council applied for and was granted a liability order for the sum owing and sent this to its recovery agents. Mr X offered to pay the outstanding at sum at £5.00 per month but the offer was rejected and enforcement action continued. Several months later Mr X was awarded council tax support and his bill was adjusted accordingly. In 2020 he was granted a student discount of 25%. The Council’s recovery agents continued to pursue Mr X for the reduced amount plus enforcement fees.
- Mr X complained to the Council that the bill was incorrect and about delays and confusion in its assessment of his financial status. He said the Council had sent him incorrect forms and contradictory demands and had failed to take certain financial issues into account. He complained that having awarded him the discounts, the Council failed to communicate the reduced debt to its enforcement agents. He also Council staff were over-zealous and acrimonious towards him.
- In response the Council asserted it had correctly assessed his financial position, that the outstanding debt had been correctly calculated and that its enforcement agents had been kept informed. The Council also said its staff had acted appropriately.
- Mr X then complained to us. He asked for his council tax to be reassessed, for an apology and for compensation for the stress suffered.
Assessment
- Mr X has a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, which is the correct body to decide if the Council has awarded him the correct discount and calculated his council tax support correctly. This part of the complaint is therefore out of our jurisdiction.
- While the process of deciding Mr X’s final bill has been protracted and may well have been stressful, there is insufficient evidence of significant injustice to warrant investigation of this part of the complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has the right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal on the substantive complaint, and there is insufficient evidence of significant injustice in relation to other parts of his complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman