London Borough of Enfield (23 009 777)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax support
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Dec 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recover an overpayment of Council tax support because there is a right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal. Further, there is no significant injustice from the fault alleged.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council failed to take into account the information they provided about their income. As a result, the Council has increased their Council tax bills to recover the overpaid Council tax support.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that an overpayment of Council tax support was the Council’s error and, when they pointed this out the Council unreasonable delayed dealing with the request.
- The Council says that the overpayment arose because Mr X did not provide them with information about their pensions. The Council accepts that there was a delay in reviewing the information provided but they say that, had they acted immediately, a different period of time would have been considered which would have increased the Council tax support overpayment. The Council says that any further review going back to previous years could also lead to a higher overpayment and increased Council tax bill.
- Any dispute about entitlement to Council tax support could be appealed to a Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal is an independent, expert body whose decisions are binding on the Council. I therefore consider that it would be reasonable to pursue an appeal in this case.
- I am not satisfied that any delay by the Council in this case caused any significant injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman