Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council cancelling Miss X’s claim for council tax reduction. This is because it is reasonable to expect Miss X to have appealed against the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has cancelled her council tax reduction claim after saying it had not received information from her to conduct a review. Miss X says she sent the information to the Council by recorded delivery. Miss has been caused stress and upset due to the increased council tax she is being charged.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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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.

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My assessment

5. The Council cancelled Miss X’s claim for council tax reduction after it says she did not respond to its requests for information about her income, when it wrote to Miss X saying it was reviewing the claim.
6. The Council wrote to Miss X in November 2021 cancelling the claim and to advise how she could challenge the decision. It was open at that time for Miss X to tell the Council why she thought the decision was wrong and then to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal (VT), if the Council did not change its decision.
7. The VT is the independent body that determines council tax disputes, and it is reasonable to expect Miss X to have made an appeal to it, to challenge the Council’s decision.
8. The Council has considered what Miss X has said about sending the information it had requested, to it, by recorded delivery. The Council says it did not receive the information and heard nothing further from Miss X until she complained in March 2022. It has advised Miss X that if she provides her proof of posting it will consider its decision to withdraw the claim, in light of that. It has also advised Miss X about how to make a new claim.
9. As per paragraph two, as Miss X had the right to appeal against the Council’s decision, and it is reasonable to expect her to have done so, we will not investigate. The Council has said it will reconsider the situation should Miss X provide the proof of posting from last year and has advised Miss X about what to do next. We cannot add to this.
10. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because Miss X had the right to appeal against the Council’s decision to cancel her council tax claim and it is reasonable to expect her to have done so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman