London Borough of Brent (22 014 856)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council tax refund because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council has not given her the correct council tax refund. The Council says she has a credit of £86 but Ms X says she is owed £474. Ms X wants the Council to credit her account with another £388.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
- Ms X says that for 2022/23 she is in credit with her council tax by £474 but the Council has only given a credit of £86. Ms X also questions whether the Council credited £340 that she paid to her council tax account.
- In response to her complaint the Council agreed that for 2022/23 Ms X has a credit of £474. The Council explained the current credit is £86 because in May 2022 it issued a refund of £388. The refund was issued by credit/debt card on 18 May. The Council confirmed it credited Ms X’s payments of £340 to the account.
- I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. This is because the Council explained that Ms X has received a refund of £474; that is £86 plus the May refund of £388. I have seen a screenshot demonstrating the Council refunded £388. The same screenshot also shows that Ms X’s direct debit payments have been credited to the account. I have considered council tax bills and benefit decision letters provided by Ms X but I have not seen anything to suggest we need to start an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman