Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to backdate the complainant’s council tax discount for more than 6 years. This is because it would be reasonable for the complainant to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal (VT). The part of the complaint relating to misinformation and the Council’s lack of communication is premature.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to here as Mr Z, says that the Council refused to backdate a council tax discount for a live-in carer for more than 6 years. He says that when he first enquired about the discount he was informed of his right to claim from the date when his son became 18. He also raises the issue of the lack of the Council’s response to his 2 complaints.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr Z and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr Z has the right to appeal against the Council’s decision to the VT. The VT is an independent and expert body which considers disputes about council tax liability and entitlement to council tax discounts.
8. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect Mr Z to appeal to the VT to determine whether his council tax discount should be backdated more than 6 years from the date of his claim.
9. Mr Z also complained that the Council misinformed him and failed to respond to his correspondence. The Council has not yet had an opportunity to fully respond to these claims through its 2-stage complaint process. In any case it is unlikely we would consider this part of the complaint as we do not review the Council’s complaint handling process for the cases where substantive issues are outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr Z’s complaint because for the main part of the complaint it would be reasonable for Mr Z to appeal to the VT and for the remaining part the complaint is premature.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman