Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to award Ms X Council Tax support. This is because Ms X had right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and she has used it. In addition, the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place this long ago.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to award her council tax support for the 2021/2022 tax year and she believes she was eligible for it.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review 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 use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Ms X complained to the Council in August 2023 because she was unhappy the Council did not award her council tax support for the 2021/2022 tax year.
9. The Council did not uphold her complaint because it had been notified by the Valuation Tribunal that Ms X appealed the Council’s decision not to award council tax support in November 2022 and turned down the appeal the following month.
10. Ms X brought the complaint to the Ombudsman because she remained unhappy with the decision.
11. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body and cannot overturn the Valuation Tribunal’s decision. Ms X had right of appeal to the Tribunal and has used it. This means the complaint is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
12. Further, the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago and the Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate events that took place this long ago unless there are good reasons to do so. In this case, there are no good reasons to investigate this matter.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because Ms X had right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and she has used it. In addition, the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place this long ago.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman