Summary: We shall not investigate this complaint. The Council has taken enough action to put right its delay changing Mrs X’s council tax bill. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council on a seemingly fraudulent claim for free school meals.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about two matters related to local taxation and benefits:
• The Council’s delay changing the names on her council tax bill.
• Alleged impropriety by the Council about a fraudulent claim for free school meals by someone wrongly using Mrs X’s address.
2. Mrs X says this resulted in her feeling victimised and intimidated.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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)
5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Council tax bill

8. In April 2022 Mrs X and her husband asked the Council to alter the names on their council tax account. The Council says it took until July to do this. Mrs X says it took until October. Either way, the Council apologised. Mrs X says the Council has still not fully reassured her about the matter.
9. As the Council has made the changes and apologised for the frustration caused by the delay, we cannot reasonably achieve significantly more here. The delay, and any continuing lack of clarity, have not significantly disadvantaged Mrs X in practical terms; for example, there has been no wrongful recovery action. I appreciate Mrs X believes the Council’s delay might have resulted from improper motives, but I see no reasonable prospect of reaching a clear enough view about that. Nor, in all the circumstances, do I consider this matter significant enough to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to pursuing it.

Claim for free school meals

10. Mrs X is also concerned that another person, unconnected to her address, might have used her address on a claim for free school meals. She reports a letter about the matter arriving at her address in 2020.
11. I appreciate Mrs X’s concern that someone might falsely have given her address on a claim. However, that is not in itself the Council’s fault. We would not necessarily expect the Council to check a name and address on a claim before sending a letter.
12. Mrs X says the Council has not explained why another person used her address in this way. I appreciate Mrs X has some uncertainty here. However, I do not consider any lack of explanation disadvantages Mrs X significantly enough to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to pursuing the complaint.
13. Also, Mrs X has known about the letter since 2020. The restriction in paragraph 5 therefore applies to this point. I consider Mrs X could reasonably have complained to us sooner if she thought the Council was at fault about that letter.
14. The time limit does not apply to more recent events. Mrs X cites the police attending her address twice in 2022 looking for someone who did not live there. She says this made her wonder if anyone else was still falsely claiming to live at her address. The evidence I have seen does not persuade me the Council was involved in these incidents. The police are responsible for their own decisions and have apparently stated they went to Mrs X’s home by mistake.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has taken enough action to put right any injustice from its delays on the council tax bill. Regarding the claim for free school meals, there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigating and part of the complaint is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman