Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled the complainant’s council tax. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council has mishandled his council tax since 2014.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. I considered our Assessment Code and invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

4. Mr X was jointly liable for the council tax with his brother (Mr Y) from 2012 to 2019. Mr Y claimed council tax reduction (CTR). Mr X reports that in 2014 Mr Y told the Council he was working and not entitled to CTR. Between 2014 and 2019 the Council issued council tax bills to Mr X and Mr Y showing CTR was still being paid.
5. Mr Y moved out in May 2019. Mr X says Mr Y told the Council. The Council says it found out later and then created a new account in Mr X’s sole name. It awarded the single person discount in late 2020 because it did not know there were other adults in the property. It removed the discount in January 2021 after Mr X reported he has a partner.
6. There were arrears on the joint account caused by CTR issues. Mr Y paid most of the arrears and the remainder have been transferred to his new account. The Council apologised because it initially applied Mr Y’s payment to the wrong account.
7. Mr X has a new council tax account from May 2019. He owes £362 for 2019/20 and £1196 for 2020/21. He does not owe any money for the joint account he held with Mr Y.
8. I cannot comment on Mr Y’s actions because he has not made a complaint to us. Mr Y can make a complaint to the Council or to us (once he has completed the Council’s complaints process).
9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice. Mr X says his brother reported in 2014 that he had started work. I cannot comment on this because it was Mr Y’s claim. But the joint account has a clear balance so, if there were any mistakes (and I am not saying there were) it has not caused an injustice to Mr X.
10. In addition, since the Council created a sole account for Mr X, the Council removed the single person discount after it found out he has a partner and Mr X has only been charged the council tax he is liable for since his brother moved out. The Council sent notices, after May 2019, showing that Mr Y was still jointly liable, so Mr X had a chance to set up a sole account earlier in 2019.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman