Summary: At our advice the Council agreed to give Mrs Y some money to make up for the stress and bother they caused her. This was because of the Council’s mistakes with her council tax. We do not now need to look into this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X, who is a relative of Mrs Y, complained that the Council made a mistake when making changes to Mrs Y’s council tax. He said they did not tell him and Mrs Y about this in a clear way.
2. Mr X says that this caused him and Mrs Y stress and bother at a difficult time for Mrs Y. Mr X said he had to lend Mrs Y money to pay what she thought she owed the council.

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What we can and cannot look into

3. We look into complaints of councils doing things wrongly.
4. Our service is free but paid for by taxpayers, so we need to use our money carefully.
5. We may not start or go on looking into a complaint if the council agrees to sort it out.

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How we thought about Mr X’s complaint

6. We looked at the information Mr X gave us.
7. We looked at Mr X’s letters to the Council.
8. We looked at the Council’s letters to Mr X.
9. We looked at our rules.
10. We asked the Council to sort the complaint out.
11. We let Mr X tell us what he thought of our draft decision.
12. We thought about what he said before we made our final decision.

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What we found out

13. Mrs Y told the Council that an adult living in her house had moved out.
14. The Council had to work out how much council tax Mrs Y now owed as a person living on her own and changing her Council Tax Reduction.
15. The Council said it made mistakes when working out how much Mrs Y had already paid.
16. The Council said it gave Mrs Y a poor service.
17. The Council said it gave the wrong information to Mr X about what information they needed to allow him talk to them about Mrs Y’s council tax.
18. The Council said it gave mixed up information to Mr X about how much Mrs Y owed the Council and how much the Council owed her.
19. The Council said it was late in replying to Mr X.
20. Mrs Y paid what she and Mr X thought she owed the Council.
21. Mr X had to lend her this money.
22. Mr X said he only found out Mrs Y had paid too much when he phoned the Council. The Council had not told Mrs Y this.
23. The next day Mr X was told Mrs Y was in credit, but the Council’s stage one complaint said she still owed £59.06.
24. This was wrong. Mrs Y did not owe any money and the Council paid her over £300.
25. It took over 2 months to sort this out. If the Council had given Mr X clearer information, it would not have taken so long and Mr X and Mrs Y would have known what was going on.
26. Mr X told us he wanted:

• The Council to say sorry.

The Council has already said sorry. We do not think it needs to say sorry again.

• The Council to reply to his questions.

A few days after Mr X told us this the Council sent its replies. The Council replied to his main points which we think was ok.

• To think about giving some money as a refund or to make up for the stress.

Council tax must be paid by law so a refund cannot be given.

27. We think a small sum can be given by the Council to recognise the stress and bother.

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What happens now

28. At our advice the Council has agreed to pay Mr X £150 and Mrs Y £150 to make up for the stress caused.
29. The Council will pay this within 6 weeks of today.

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Final decision

30. We will not look into this complaint any more. This is because the Council has agreed what it will do to make things better.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman