Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s council tax support from 2016 to 2018. This is because the complainant could have used her appeal rights and because it is a late complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council did not award enough council tax support (CTS) in 2016/17 and 2017/18. She also disputes court costs from 2017/18 and questions her council tax bill for in 2018/19. Ms X wants a refund.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

7. Ms X says the Council did not award enough CTS in 2016/17 and 2017/18. She says the Council did not send a CTS claim form in April 2017 and she disputes court costs she incurred in 2017/18 for council tax. Ms X questions a charge of £32 from 2018/19 and says she is owed a refund of £66.
8. The Council has reviewed Ms X’s council tax and CTS and explained why they are correct.
9. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. Ms X is complaining about issues from 2016 to 2019 but she did not complain to us until 2022. This is significantly longer than 12 months and I have not seen any good reason to investigate such a late complaint.
10. I also will not investigate this complaint because Ms X could have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal if she did not think the Council had awarded enough CTS. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have appealed because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider disputes about CTS awards. In addition, the Council notified Ms X of her appeal rights in the CTS decision letters.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint and because Ms X could have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman