Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainant’s concerns about a third party not paying council tax. This is because the complainant has not suffered any personal injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will refer to as Ms X, has complained the Council has not properly investigated her concerns about a third party’s (Mr Y’s) liability for council tax.

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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 must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered Ms X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision and have considered her comments in response.

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What I found

4. Full-time students are exempt from council tax. A student will qualify for a council tax exemption if their course lasts for at least 24 weeks a year with a minimum of 21 hours of study a week during term time.

What happened

5. Ms X says Mr Y left university in March 2019 and was therefore no longer entitled to a student council tax exemption. She contacted the Council to report her concerns about Mr Y’s liability for council tax.
6. The Council says it looked into Ms X’s concerns about Mr Y’s liability for council tax. However, it cannot discuss the outcome of its investigation for data protection reasons. Ms X is unhappy with this response and says she has discovered that Mr Y is still not paying council tax. She argues the Council failed to properly look into the matter.

Assessment

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with her concerns about Mr Y’s council tax liability. This is because Ms X has not suffered any personal injustice.
8. The Council says it looked into Ms X’s concerns but cannot share the outcome of its investigation as the matter involves a third party. Ms X is unhappy with the Council’s response and says she has found out that the Council has not taken any action against Mr Y. She argues the Council failed to properly investigate if Mr Y should be liable for council tax. However, the Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint as she has not suffered any personal injustice or been disadvantaged by the situation. The Ombudsman will not normally investigate a complaint unless the complainant has suffered a personal injustice as a direct result of the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Ms X has not been caused any injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman