Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council handled Ms X’s council tax account and her council tax reduction award. There has been no significant injustice and we could not achieve more by investigating the complaint now.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council delayed in deciding if she qualified for council tax reduction and refused to allow her to continue paying her council tax whilst it decided. Ms X believes she should not have to pay for the months she did not pay council tax because it was the Council’s decision to stop the payments.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or

(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.

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My assessment

5. Ms X applied for renewal of her entitlement to council tax reduction. She told the Council she owned a second property.
6. The Council obtained a valuation of its capital value and decided Ms X did not qualify for council tax reduction but changed its decision when it realised she only had a part share in the property.
7. The Council did not take payment of council tax while it was considering and resolving the matter. This meant Ms X did not pay anything she did not have to.
8. The Council offered to set up a payment plan with her if she was struggled to pay her council tax for the rest of the year.
9. The Council then decided Ms X did qualify for a council tax reduction and credited her account.
10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there has been no significant injustice and in any case, we could not achieve more by investigating the complaint now.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there has been no significant injustice to Ms X and we could not achieve more by investigating the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman