Summary: Ms X complains that the Council has unreasonably refused her Council tax support for her heating bills. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter has been remedied.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council has unreasonably refused her Council tax support for her heating bills.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• 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))

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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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.
6. The complainant now has an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.

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My assessment

7. Ms X lives in a property banded F for Council tax purposes. She is exempt from Council tax due to her medical condition.
8. She is not entitled to support for her heating bills through her Council Tax liability as the Government scheme does not apply for those in properties above Council Tax band E.
9. However, the Government did provide Council’s with finance to enable them to introduce a discretionary scheme. Ms X says that when she first enquired about this the Council did not have such a scheme. She says that the Council then advised her that she would be eligible for £150 in August 2022.
10. The Council apologised for this misleading information. I consider that this is a reasonable settlement of this part of the complaint.
11. The Council has now introduced a discretionary scheme but it says that she is not entitled to support through this scheme due to her circumstances. Ms X is however, entitled to support through her Personal Independence Payment and Tax credits.
12. Whilst Ms X alleges that the Council was slow to introduce the discretionary scheme, the final scheme did not provide support for her and so any delay did not cause her any injustice. The scheme itself is discretionary and therefore entirely a matter for the Council to determine. We do not therefore consider that the scheme itself is maladministration.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman