Summary: Mr X complained the Council is seeking payment for Council he has already paid. We found fault with the Council for losing Mr X’s payment and delays in handling his complaint. The Council agreed to our recommendation to apply the missing payment to Mr X’s Council Tax account, settling any outstanding balance and refunding Mr X the resulting credit.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council is seeking payment for Council Tax which he has already paid. Mr X says the Council lost a payment he made towards his Council Tax.
2. Mr X complained the Council took so long to handle his complaint that he lost the chance of recourse through his bank.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered all the information Mr X and the Council provided.
6. Mr X and the Council had opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made my final decision.

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What I found

Council complaints procedure

7. The Council has a three-stage complaint procedure.
8. At pre-complaint stage, the Council will try to resolve a complaint as soon as a person makes them aware of an issue. If the Council cannot resolve the complaint at this stage it will progress to Stage 1.
9. At Stage 1, the Council says that it will respond to a complaint within 15 working days of receipt of the complaint.
10. If a person is dissatisfied with the Stage 1 complaint response, they can request consideration at Stage 2 of the Council’s complaint process. The Council says it will provide a Stage 2 complaint response within 20 working days of request.

What happened

11. Mr X was liable for Council Tax at his former property from September 2021.
12. Mr X payments monthly to the Council for his Council Tax during his occupation of the property.
13. On 2 January 2022, Mr X made a Council Tax payment of £141. His bank statement shows Mr X paid this sum by debit card on 4 January 2022.
14. On 31 January 2022, Mr X contacted the Council to advise it had failed to add his payment of £141 to his Council Tax account. The Council opened an investigation into the missing payment on this date.
15. Mr X provided the Council with information it requested on 10 February 2022 and vacated his former property. The Council issued a final Council Tax bill on 19 February 2022 showing £67.42 outstanding. This final Council Tax bill did not include Mr X’s disputed payment of £141 in January 2022.
16. Mr X sought updates on this matter later in February 2022, March 2022 and April 2022 before lodging a complaint with the Council on 12 April 2022.
17. The Council investigated Mr X’s complaint. On 25 April 2022, the Council’s financial department confirmed it could not open the attachments Mr X provided in February 2022 but did not seek further information from Mr X in February 2022. The finance department said it had now managed to the find the payment but said it had been declined on its system. The Council said, “We are unable to tell if the payment was returned to the customer but there is no evidence of the returned payment”. The finance department said Mr X may still be able to request his bank recalls the payment, but Mr X’s bank has a 120-day limit on such matters.
18. On 3 May 2022, the Council provided a Stage 1 complaint response to Mr X asking Mr X for further information to help it in locating the missing payment. Mr X provided this information to the Council and sought escalation of his complaint.
19. On 7 June 2022, the Council provided its Stage 2 complaint response to Mr X. The Council told Mr X its payment system had declined Mr X’s payment of 2 January 2022. The Council advised Mr X to contact his bank to seek a recall or refund of the payment. The Council apologised for the delay in confirming this with Mr X and said Mr X still owed £67.42 for his Council Tax.
20. Mr X contacted his bank who advised it could not help him with this matter. The bank said it can only dispute transactions within the last 120 days and this time had passed for Mr X’s transaction.

Analysis

21. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we will weigh up the available relevant evidence and base our findings on what we think was more likely to have happened.
22. Mr X has evidenced payment left his bank account in January 2022 to the Council for his Council Tax. Mr X has also evidenced this payment has not returned to his bank account. There is no dispute in the evidence that Mr X no longer has the payment of £141.
23. The Council has evidenced its system declined the payment of £141 in January 2022. The Council’s finance department has advised in April 2022 it cannot evidence the payment returned to Mr X’s bank but states it cannot locate the payment. In June 2022, the Council advised Mr X to contact his bank to find the payment as it cannot locate it.
24. Based on the relevant evidence I can confirm Mr X does not have this payment of £141 and that either the Council or Mr X’s bank has this payment.
25. Mr X first became aware of this issue on 31 January 2022 and contacted the Council. And, by 10 February 2022 Mr X had provided the Council with the information it sought. I do not find fault with the Council’s actions up to 10 February 2022.
26. The Council failed to act on Mr X’s information until 25 April 2022, after several chasers by Mr X. The Council’s pre-complaint stage says it will resolve a complaint as soon as a person makes them aware of an issue. The Council’s delay in handling this matter by 74 days does not follow the Council’s complaints procedure and is fault.
27. Mr X’s bank is restricted to 120 days in which it can recall a payment made by Mr X. The Council has confirmed on 25 April 2022 that it was aware of this restriction for Mr X’s bank. The 25 April 2022 was 113 days since Mr X made his payment to the Council on 2 January 2022.
28. Had the Council told Mr X by 2 May 2022 it could not locate his payment, and that Mr X would need to contact his bank, Mr X would have had recourse through his bank.
29. The Council failed to confirm anything with Mr X until 7 June 2022. This was 156 days after Mr X’s payment payment, despite its knowledge of the 120-day time limit.
30. The Council’s delays in investigating Mr X’s concerns and failure to confirm with Mr X, in a timely manner, that he would need to approach his bank has denied Mr X recourse through his bank.
31. Since the Council has been unable to locate what happened to Mr X’s payment of £141 but denied Mr X any alternative recourse through his bank, the onus is on the Council to resolve the missing payment issue without impacting Mr X further.

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Agreed action

32. Within one month of the Ombudsman’s final decision the Council should:
• Apply a credit to Mr X’s Council Tax account with the sum of £141 and refund Mr X the resulting credit balance.

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Final decision

33. There was fault by the Council as the Council has agreed to my recommendation, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman