Liverpool City Council (24 022 835)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to make an ex-gratia payment after it made an error in calculating the complainant’s council tax support. This is because the Council has already provided a satisfactory remedy.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has not made an ex-gratia payment following an error in relation to his council tax support (CTS). Mr X wants a payment and explanation.
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 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council reassessed Mr X’s CTS on 8 January. It made a mistake and included an out of date figure for his capital. This meant Mr X was charged £77 rather than £12.
- Mr X asked for a review on 10 January, chased on 28 January and complained on 6 February. The Council corrected the claim on 14 February which generated a credit of £65.
- In response to the complaint, the Council explained the officer made an error when dealing with the capital. It apologised for the error and because it delayed responding to some of Mr X’s emails. It said it would give feedback to the officer to stop the error being repeated. The Council declined to pay compensation.
- I will not start an investigation because the steps outlined in paragraph six provide a satisfactory response. Mr X followed the correct process by asking for a review and the review process worked because the Council corrected his CTS. The time taken for the Council to complete the review was not to the extent that compensation is needed, and the delay in responding to Mr X’s emails has not caused an injustice which requires an investigation or ex-gratia payment.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has provided a satisfactory remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman