Charnwood Borough Council (21 009 788)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 30 Nov 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about costs added to Mr X’s council tax account as the injustice to Mr X is not sufficient to warrant our involvement and part of his complaint is made late.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to issue him with a council tax summons, which added £45 costs to his council tax account. Mr X complains this took place two times: in 2019 and 2021.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s complaint about costs added to his account in 2019 is made late to us and I cannot see good reason for us to investigate now, as it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner about this. For this reason, we cannot investigate, as per paragraph two.
- In terms of what took place this year, while I recognise Mr X remains unhappy that £45 was added to his council tax account, this does not represent a level of personal injustice that would warrant our involvement. I also do not consider there are public interest grounds to justify us investigating.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late and the injustice caused to Mr X is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman