Summary: Ms X complains the Council has not properly responded to her complaint about council tax arrears and payments she has made. The Council has agreed to take steps to resolve the complaint which are satisfactory to the Ombudsman. He will not therefore investigate.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has not properly considered whether it can discount council tax she owes or responded to her query about payments she has made to her account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Ms X said in her complaint and background information the Council has sent to me. I wrote to Ms X with my draft decision and gave her the opportunity to comment.

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What I found

4. Ms X explains she was left in financial difficulty after her partner, who was the main income earner, left home. Ms X asked the Council to consider whether it could reduce council tax she owed, on compassionate grounds, due to the change in her circumstances.
5. The Council told Ms X no discount could be applied for the period in question. Ms X was unhappy with this and complained to us.
6. Ms X also asked the Council to confirm what payments she had made during a period she was exempt from council tax, due to her student status, and which financial years the payments had been made against. Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s response to this and complained to us.

My proposal

7. I asked the Council to give further consideration under Section 13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as to whether Ms X’s council tax arrears could be reduced. I also asked the Council to provide a breakdown of the payments Ms X made when she was a student and to agree that an officer will go through these payments with Ms X, if she still requires further clarification.
8. The Council has agreed to take both these steps. There are no grounds to investigate as we can achieve no more than this.

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Final decision

9. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has agreed to take steps to resolve the complaint at this stage.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman