Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax recovery because the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complained the Council has failed to communicate with her since July 2022 and has then taken £692.47 from her bank account via direct debit without her authorisation in March 2023.
2. Miss Y says this has caused her significant worry and financial difficulties.

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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 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information Miss Y provided and the Council and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss Y has an ongoing disagreement with the Council about the backdating of the banding for council tax on her property. The Council says Miss Y owes approximately £692, while Miss Y disagrees. The Council and Miss Y last had correspondence about this in July 2022. Miss Y says she heard nothing further from the Council about the amount owed until March 2023, when the Council took £692 from her bank account via a direct debit agreement.
6. Miss Y complained, both to us and to the Council. The Council responded to acknowledge her complaint and Miss Y’s action to reclaim the money through her bank using a charge back process. It also acknowledged that Miss Y had agreed to set up a standing order for council tax payments to ensure the amount was paid from April onwards. Miss Y then asked us to investigate.

Analysis

7. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. In this case, Miss Y has been able to get her money back through the direct debit charge back scheme. While she has experienced the initial upset of finding the money had been paid to the Council from her account, this was limited and is not ongoing due to the action Miss Y took. Although Miss Y may feel upset about this, we would not consider this to be significant enough of an injustice to warrant our involvement. Further, as Miss Y has had the money returned an investigation would not lead to a different outcome. Consequently, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement and investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman