Gloucester City Council (23 001 013)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax as the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr X says that he told the Council in March 2022 that he had moved out of his house but the Council continued to issue bills for the property, which incurred costs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he told the Council that he had moved out of the house in March 2022. The Council accepts that it continued to issue bills (and receive payments via Direct Debit) but the Council was a victim of a cyber-attack which affected all the Council tax payers that year.
- Mr X was able to obtain a refund to the payments he made by Direct Debit through the Direct Debit scheme. However, during this time the Council also awarded him a £150 Government energy grant. The Council decided that this should be repaid by Mr X as he could access this at his new address.
- The Council apologised for the delays in dealing with his change of address and the matter has now been concluded. It has also agreed to waive the £60 costs that arose during this process.
- I am satisfied that, given the Council’s actions, there are no grounds to investigate this matter further.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman