Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (22 010 587)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about errors in Mr X’s Council Tax account as the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr X says that the Council misled him about his entitlement to complainant tax reduction and then enforced an unpaid bill.
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 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)
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal 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 appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he made a claim for Council Tax Reduction (CTR) in March 2021 and was told by letter from the Council in July 2021 that he would receive this. The Council says that the application form was not correctly filled in but accepts that they should have put a hold on enforcement action when he queried the legal action in court in May 2022.
- The Council apologised and removed any costs associated with the enforcement action. Mr X’s CTR refusal could be appealed to a tribunal and so the Ombudsman would not investigate this part of the complaint.
- Whilst there were errors made by the Council in dealing with the account, the Council’s apology and removal of costs is, in our view, a remedy to the complaint and there are no grounds to investigate the matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman