Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to allow Miss X full council tax reduction from August 2020, failing to offer her financial compensation, and about poor complaint handling. This is because the alleged fault has not caused any significant injustice to Miss X. In addition, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council refused to allow her full council tax reduction from August 2020. She also complains the Council failed to offer her any financial compensation after accepting she was due a refund of £1500 and complains about the Council’s complaint handling.

Back to top

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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Miss X applied for council tax support (CTS) in November 2021 and asked the Council to backdate it to August 2020. She said this was because she was not advised by her work coach to claim for this. The Council originally declined to backdate the CTS to August 2020.
6. Miss X appealed the Council’s decision. The Council reviewed its decision in March 2022 and agreed to backdate Miss X’s CTS to August 2020. This meant Miss X’s council tax account now had a credit of just over £1525. The Council advised Miss X how she could request a refund.
7. There potentially could be fault in the time it took the Council to decide to backdate Miss X’s CTS to August 2020. Any potential delay would likely have caused Miss X distress and frustration. However, I do not consider this injustice to be significant enough to justify an investigation.
8. Further, I note Miss X considers the Council’s failure to refund her meant she incurred bank/interest charges. However, Miss X did not apply for CTS support until November 2021. Therefore, any interest changes she incurred before this date would not have been due to any fault by the Council.
9. The Council then agreed to backdate the CTS from March 2022. Miss X applied for a refund at the end of June 2022. The Council has accepted it delayed in processing this refund and apologised to Miss X. I consider this to be appropriate and do not consider any further remedy is necessary as the delay is minimal.
10. In September 2022, the Council was notified by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) that Miss X’s Universal Credit (UC) had been stopped in August 2022. Therefore, the Council ended Miss X’s CTS entitlement from August 2022. This reduced the credit on Miss X’s council tax account to just over £653. The Council said it had issued this as a refund to Miss X.
11. I will not investigate this complaint as we are unlikely to find fault with the Council. This is because the Council is entitled to stop CTS if it is satisfied the individual no longer meets the criteria for the support. Any dispute Miss X has regarding her UC being stopped is for the DWP.
12. We will not investigate complaints about complaint handling if we are not investigating the substantive matters.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the alleged fault has not caused any significant injustice. In addition, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman