London Borough of Tower Hamlets (20 007 564)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Jun 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a council tax discount as this complaint is now resolved.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about delay in a council tax discount being applied to his account which meant he had to pay more council tax.
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 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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint and I confirmed with him that his case was resolved before completing this final decision.
What I found
- Mr X complains he provided information the Council had asked for, to re-instate a council tax discount on his account, but that the discount was not applied. This meant Mr X paid more council tax than he thought he should.
- The Council has now confirmed that the discount has been applied, backdated and a refund sent to Mr X.
- Mr X confirms his complaint is now resolved.
Final decision
- We will not investigate as Mr X confirms the complaint is resolved.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman