Summary: A man complained about the Council’s unreasonable delay in awarding disregards and a band reduction to his council tax account. But we will not investigate this matter because the Council has now applied the disregards and reduction, and we could not achieve a better outcome than that.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if, for example, we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) & 24A(7))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr B provided about his complaint and evidence the Council supplied about his council tax account. I also gave Mr B the chance to comment on my proposed decision before I reached a final view in his case.

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My assessment

4. In response to our initial enquiries in Mr B’s case, the Council confirmed that it had already applied and backdated the disregards and band reduction he requested to his council tax account. In addition, in its earlier responses to Mr B’s complaints, the Council had previously apologised to Mr B for its delays in dealing with his request.
5. In the circumstances there is no need for us to start an investigation in Mr B’s case. This is because the Council has now taken satisfactory action to address the central issue in Mr B’s complaint, and we could not achieve a significantly better result for him than the one it has provided.

Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council had delayed unduly in awarding disregards and a band reduction to his council tax account. This is because the Council has now made the necessary credits to Mr B’s account and we could not achieve a better outcome than that.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman