Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed applying Disability Band Reduction to his council tax account. The Council is not at fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council delayed applying Disability Band Reduction to his council tax account. He says the delay and Council enforcement action has caused him distress and financial hardship. Although the Council has now applied the reduction and backdated it to when he first moved into the property, he wants a financial remedy to acknowledge the distress caused.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read Mr X’s complaint and spoke with him about it on the phone.
5. I made enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent me.
6. Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background information

Council tax banding and appeals

7. Every domestic property has a council tax band. Dwellings are placed in one of 8 bands based on what their likely market value would have been on 1 April 1991.
8. The Valuation Tribunal Service is an independent body which hears appeals against council tax decisions. It can hear appeals related to council tax banding, liability for payment, council tax reduction and other matters.

The Council’s Disability Band Reduction (DBR) scheme

9. The Council’s scheme provides council tax relief for disabled people. To be eligible, the applicant must be able to show the Council that special adaptations have been made to the property to meet the disabled person’s needs. The property adaptations must be either:
• An extra room which is not a bathroom, kitchen or lavatory predominantly used by the individual for therapy or other needs; or
• An additional bathroom or kitchen; or
• Sufficient floor space for a wheelchair user.
10. The Council will assess an application and, in most cases, will visit the property to confirm the adaptations.
11. Successful applicants will have their council tax reduced to that of a property in the band immediately below their own property band.

What happened

12. Mr X is a wheelchair user with a below knee amputation. He moved into his property in 2014.
13. The Council created a council tax account for him. Mr X says the Council knew he was a wheelchair user at this time and so should have applied disability reduction to his account. The Council has told us it can find no evidence it knew he was disabled in 2014. Mr X did not apply for the DBR scheme at this time.
14. In 2016, Mr X asked the Council about a possible reduction in his council tax. The council sent him details of its DBR scheme, setting out the eligibility criteria. It told him that if he thought he met the criteria, he should contact the council tax department for an application form or download a form from the Council website. Once received, the Council could then assess his application. It gave him the customer service telephone number in case he needed further advice.
15. In May 2019, Mr X complained to the Council about the suitability of his property. The Council responded in June 2019. It did not uphold his complaint but referred to its DBR scheme in the complaint response. It sent him the application form, asked him to complete it and return it to the Council. It said it would then arrange for an officer to visit his property to confirm if he was eligible for the reduction.
16. In July 2019, the Council sent Mr X the DBR scheme application form again. It asked him to complete it and return it to the Council.
17. In April 2020, the Council spoke to Mr X about a case he had brought to the valuation tribunal. In the phone call, Mr X confirmed what adaptations he had in his property. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Council officers were not visiting properties to confirm adaptations at the time but relying on written or verbal information to determine eligibility. The Council decided Mr X was eligible for the DBR scheme. It awarded him DBR and backdated this to the start of his account in 2014.
18. Mr X complained to the Council about multiple points. He said the Council had told him for five years he was not entitled to disability discount until his property was adapted to meet his needs as a disabled person. It was now saying he was.
19. The Council said it had set out the criteria for the DBR scheme in previous correspondence. This information was also available on the Council website and on the application form. It had previously asked him to apply for the DBR scheme, but the Council had never received an application.
20. Mr X remained unhappy and brought his complaint to us.

Analysis

21. Mr X says the Council knew he was disabled when he moved into his property in 2014 and should have applied the reduction to his account. There is no evidence the Council knew he was disabled in 2014 and even if it did, the DBR eligibility criteria relate to property adaptations made to meet the needs of a disabled person and not the individual’s disability. Mr X did not apply for the DBR scheme at the time and there is no evidence the Council knew he was eligible. The Council is not at fault.
22. When Mr X made enquiries about council tax reduction in 2016, the Council acted appropriately by explaining the DBR scheme to him and inviting him to apply. Mr X did not submit an application form. This was Mr X’s choice and is not Council fault.
23. In 2019, the Council twice sent him the DBR application form in June and July and asked him to apply. Mr X did not do this. This is not Council fault.
24. In April 2020, the Council changed how it considered applications for its DBR scheme due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The revised process meant officers did not visit properties to confirm adaptations but assessed eligibility based on written or verbal information received. Because of this, when Mr X told the Council that he used a wheelchair within his property, the Council decided he was eligible for the scheme and awarded him the reduction. It also backdated his award to the start of his account. The Council made its decisions based on information provided at this time and there is no fault in how it made these decisions. Before this time, Mr X had not applied for the DBR scheme, despite being asked to do so. The Council is not at fault for not applying the reduction to Mr X’s council tax account before April 2020.

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Final decision

25. I have completed my investigation. The Council is not at fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman