Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s council tax reminder service as there is no evidence of fault by the Council and, in any case, Mr X did not experience a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council issued a text message reminder regarding a late council tax payment even though he had made a payment. Mr X complains that this text message led to confusion and distress due to fear of further action being taken by the Council. Mr X wants the Council to amend the wording of the text message reminder to be less offensive and alienating.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant. This includes correspondence from the Council about the complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision but did not provide any comments.

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My assessment

6. Mr X paid his council tax three days late. He then received a text message reminder the following day, telling him that his council tax was overdue and further action may be taken if the payment was not received.
7. Mr X contacted the Council to submit a complaint regarding the text message. In its response the Council confirmed that Mr X’s payment was made late and it was his third late payment in recent months. The Council also stated that because of the time it took to process payments, the information about Mr X’s account was up to date when the text was sent. The Council offered to amend Mr X’s payment date to prevent this from reoccurring.
8. I will not investigate this complaint. It is the responsibility of the taxpayer to ensure they pay their council tax by the instalment due date. If this does not happen the regulations permit councils to issue reminders and a final notice. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s use of the text message service to justify an investigation. In any case, there is not enough evidence of injustice to start an investigation. This is because Mr X has not incurred any costs and no further action has been taken by the Council.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault or injustice to start an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman