Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council sending incorrect Council Tax bills to Mr X. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault or of injustice to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly sent Council Tax bills to him saying he owed a debt, and it had instructed bailiffs. Mr X complains the Council was rude to him when he raised the issue. Mr X is seeking compensation for distress he says the Council caused him.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

3. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mr X’s raised his complaint about the bills he received on 16 January 2023. The Council looked into the issue and confirmed that it had not been made aware that Mr X had been moved into bed and breakfast accommodation by Housing Benefits.
7. On 19 January 2023, the Council confirmed it had updated its records and Mr X did not owe any council tax.
8. Mr X’s frustrations are understandable, as an unexpected letter demanding payment would likely cause some anxiety. However, the Council corrected the position quickly when Ms X first contacted it. We could not achieve anything further by investigating.
9. Mr X says the Council were rude to him in the phone calls he had with them, but the Council says its call recordings do not support this. It also says Mr X continued to contact the Council even after it had resolved the original council tax matter. This is disproportionate to what happened and does not warrant the use of public money to investigate further.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault or injustice to warrant an investigation. It is unlikely that an investigation would lead to a different outcome here.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman