Great Yarmouth Borough Council (23 004 282)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax payments as the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Ms X complains that the Council failed to take her Council tax payments by direct debit so she ended up in debt.
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 a council 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
- Ms X set up a direct debit for Council tax payment in 2020. The Council says that an error was made such that monthly Council tax payments were not made from May 2020 onwards. The Council apologised and agreed to take arrears of Council tax payments over the next 24 months.
- I appreciate that the debt accrued would be a problem for Ms X, but the Council are correct in pointing out that any missing payments should have been noticed over three years. I therefore consider that the Council’s apology and offer of 24 months for payment is a remedy to this complaint.
- There are no grounds therefore to investigate this complain further.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman