Summary: Mr X complains that the Council is pursuing him for council tax debts he has paid. We will not investigate this complaint because the Ombudsman has previously considered his complaint about an earlier period (and is therefore invalid), and it is more reasonable for him to provide evidence to support his case for payment of the recent debt than for an investigation by the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council is pursuing him for council tax debts he has paid.

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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 or may decide not to continue with 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint,
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. Mr X was in dispute with the Council about whether or not he had made full payments of his council tax for the period 2006 to 2009. The Ombudsman investigated this in 2016 complaint and decided there was no fault by the Council.
7. Mr X is now in dispute about whether or not he made full payment of council tax in 2020. The Council says it does not have a record of the payments he alleges to have been made. They have asked him to provide supporting bank statements.
8. Mr X argued that he could not provide evidence of bank statements for the previous period but he should now be able to do so for the period 2020/21. I consider that this is the appropriate way forward in this matter and there are no grounds therefore to investigate the later dispute.

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Final decision

9. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because part of the complaint is invalid and there are no grounds to investigate as there is a reasonable alternative solution.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman