Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a delay by the Council in setting up the complainant’s council tax. This is because the Council has offered a fair and proportionate remedy and there is not enough remaining injustice to require an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council delayed setting up his council tax which means he now has to pay a higher monthly amount. Mr X wants compensation.

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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 an investigation if we decide:

• the Council has provided a fair remedy, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

4. Mr X moved into a property in March 2022 and immediately tried to register for council tax. Despite sending about eight chasers the Council did not respond or set up the account until June. A payment plan was set for Mr X to pay about £145 a month from July to March.
5. Mr X complained about the lack of response and the high payments. The Council apologised and explained there had been a large backlog caused by a major migration to a different system. The Council said it could not reduce Mr X’s council tax but offered to extend the payment plan until May 2023 and it offered £50 as an apology for the delayed service he received. It also offered to arrange payment for the council tax for 2023/24 from June 2023 until March 2024. Mr X says the Council only offered £50 because he kept pursuing the complaint.
6. There were delays by the Council in responding to Mr X and setting up his account. If there had been no delays Mr X would have been able to pay over ten months and the monthly instalment would have been lower. However, I will not start an investigation because the Council has provided a fair remedy. It has explained what went wrong, apologised, offered to extend the instalments over ten months and offered £50. There is nothing more we would ask the Council to do.
7. In reaching this view I have considered that Mr X has not suffered a financial loss, does not have to pay any extra council tax and, as he promptly tried to register for council tax, he could have put money aside until he received the bill. I acknowledge Mr X was caused some stress and inconvenience, but the remedy is sufficient and there is not enough remaining injustice to require an investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has provided a fair and proportionate response and there is not enough remaining injustice to require an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman