Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed issuing a council tax refund which led to the Council sending him unnecessary reminders and threats of enforcement action. The Council was at fault. It accepted that it did not process the refund request in a timely manner. The Council agreed to make a symbolic payment of £150 to recognise the distress, unnecessary financial loss and time and trouble this caused Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to properly administer a council tax refund from his late mother’s account onto his own account. Mr X says as a result he received late payment letters with threats of enforcement.
2. The Council has accepted an administrative error and poor communication and has offered Mr X £100 to recognise any distress and time and trouble caused which Mr X says is inadequate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint and considered information he provided.
6. I considered the Council’s complaint response and information it provided us.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments before I made a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

8. Mr X lived with his mother, Mrs Y. The council tax account was in Mrs Y’s name. Mrs Y died in late 2021. The Council wrote to Mr X and told him that Mrs Y’s council tax account had a credit of £698.82 and as such Mr X was entitled to claim a refund. The Council opened a new council tax account for the property in Mr X’s name which showed an outstanding amount now owed of £524.11 for the 2021/22 tax year. Mr X also returned a direct debit form to pay future bills in monthly instalments.
9. Mr X responded to the Council enclosing a refund application and asked the Council to apply £524.11 of the refund due from Mrs Y’s credit against his account rather than debiting that amount from him.
10. In May 2022 the Council wrote to Mr X asking him to fill out an indemnity form so it could process the council tax refund which Mr X completed and returned.
11. Towards the end of May 2022, the Council wrote to Mr X with reminders for him to pay his council tax bill. The reminders explained the Council could take enforcement action if the amount remained unpaid. The letters told Mr X it had no record of any direct debit details. Mr X responded to the Council explaining he had already provided direct debit details but included them again.
12. Mr X said he spent a significant amount of time on the telephone chasing the Council about the refund. Mr X said the Council told him he would need to provide Mrs Y’s death certificate. Mr X wrote to the Council providing this at the end of May. Mr X said the Council required him to pay the outstanding amount of £524.11 plus a further instalment of £145.00.
13. In August 2022 the Council sent Mr X a cheque for £698.82 refunding the credit from Mrs Y’s account. Mr X said this cheque was dated May 2022.
14. Mr X complained to the Council. He said he had asked the Council in April to apply the refund to his council tax account but instead received reminder letters threatening court action. He said it had taken too long to issue the refund which meant instead he had to pay the money from his account which had caused him financial hardship.
15. The Council issued a final response to Mr X in October 2022. It was unable to offer an explanation of why there was a delay issuing the refund cheque. It accepted an error in processing Mr X’s request to apply the refund to his council tax account and offered him £100 as compensation.
16. Mr X remained unhappy and complained to us.

My findings

17. The Council has accepted that it failed to process Mr X’s request to refund the credit on Mrs Y’s account onto his after he requested this in April 2022. This fault ultimately led to the Council sending reminder letters for Mr X’s unpaid council tax. There was a further delay in sending the refund to Mr X in the form a cheque which meant he had to make unnecessary payments to cover the outstanding amount on his council tax account. As the Council has accepted fault and delay all that is left for me is to consider what injustice this caused Mr X and whether the Council’s proposed remedy is suitable.
18. The Council’s failure to credit Mr X’s council tax with the refund amount caused Mr X distress when he received unnecessary council tax reminders threatening enforcement action. The delay issuing the refund also meant Mr X had to make payments on the account which caused him financial hardship at the time. However, as the Council has now issued the refund there is no outstanding quantifiable financial loss to Mr X. The evidence shows there were delays setting up his direct debit and Mr X had to go to the time and trouble calling the Council to resolve the matter. I have therefore recommended the Council make an increased symbolic payment to recognise the distress and time and trouble this matter caused Mr X.

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Agreed action

19. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to pay Mr X £150 to acknowledge the distress, and time and trouble caused to him after it failed to appropriately process his council tax refund request and also for a further delay in issuing him with the refund.
20. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

21. I completed this investigation. I found fault and the Council agreed to my recommendation to remedy the injustice caused by the fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman