Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the transfer of council tax credit to another account instead of refunding it as requested by Mr X. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council crediting overpaid council tax on an address which he vacated in 2021 to another address he owned. When he missed payments due for empty rates, he received a reminder notice which threatened a court summons if he failed to pay. He says this was distressing and caused him to feel bullied by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X says he told the Council in early 2021 that he was moving from a property and asked for any overpaid council tax to be refunded to him. the Council acknowledged his request but in August 2021 he received a council tax statement for his new address which showed the amount overpaid had been credited to his new account and not refunded directly as he requested. He queried this amount with the Council.
7. On 1 September he received a reminder notice. The notice said that failure to pay the outstanding amount would result in a summons for court action. Mr X paid the amount reluctantly and complained to the Council. The Council accepted that his payment should have been refunded but that the money was credited in error of his instructions. The new payments were reduced accordingly to take account of his credit but payments for an unoccupied period were his liability at the empty rate.
8. The Council apologised for failing to respond to an earlier email which may have prevented the reminder notice being issued. However, it does not accept that the payment demanded or liability period was incorrect.
9. Mr X was aware of the credit amount and the reminder notice more than 12 months before he complained to us. There is no evidence to suggest he could not have complained to us sooner. However, as no summons was issued and Mr X was paid the tax credit in his subsequent account it is unlikely there would be sufficient personal injustice here which would have warranted an investigation had he complained earlier.

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Final decision

10. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the transfer of council tax credit to another account instead of refunding it as requested by Mr X. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman