Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse a discretionary council tax support application. It was reasonable for Ms X to appeal to the valuation tribunal, and the remaining injustice is not significant enough to warrant investigation. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council considered Ms X’s vulnerabilities to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about how the Council handled her request for council tax support, and says the Council failed to respond to her needs as a vulnerable adult. Ms X says the Council’s actions have caused her significant distress and impacted her health. Ms X also complains about how the Council handled her complaint.
2. Ms X wants the council to reassess her council tax liability, reconsider her discretionary council tax application, suspend council tax enforcement action and make an adult social care referral on her behalf.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
6. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Ms X is in council tax arrears and applied to the Council for a discretionary council tax reduction. Ms X says, while she was waiting for the decision, the Council placed a charging order on her property to recover the arrears. The Council then sent Ms X its decision to refuse her application and explained its reasons. Ms X says the Council decided this despite its knowledge of her vulnerabilities.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal if she disputes her council tax liability or the Council ‘s decision to refuse her discretionary council tax reduction.
11. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures.
12. Ms X has a duty to pay her council tax arrears, and the law does not prevent the Council from taking enforcement action while a council tax support application, or complaint, remains open. A charging order is not payable until Ms X’s sells her property, so I do not consider the injustice from receiving notice of it before the other correspondence significant enough to warrant investigation.
13. The Council considered Ms X’s vulnerabilities in its decision making. Ms X’s vulnerabilities do not remove the Council’s duty to recover any owed council tax. If Ms X believes her vulnerabilities need an adult social care referral, she can self-refer or ask a professional to make a referral for her. I have seen no evidence the Council has refused to make a referral or blocked her access to adult social care. So, there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council has handled Ms X’s vulnerabilities to justify an investigation.
14. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to investigate the substantive issue.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse a discretionary council tax support application. It was reasonable for Ms X to appeal to the valuation tribunal, and the remaining injustice is not significant enough to warrant investigation. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council considered Ms X’s vulnerabilities to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman