Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to award Miss X a council tax exemption. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council deemed her ineligible to qualify for a Council tax exemption.
2. She said she has been put to time and trouble due to the Council’s actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X took on caring duties for her late father in 2017 for several years. During this time, she says she was unable to live at her property. The Council operates an empty property exemption which allows people who are caring for someone at another address to be exempt from paying Council tax.
7. Miss X applied for the exemption in 2023 and was unhappy when she was told she would need to provide a backdated tenancy agreement and a doctor’s note outlining her father’s care to qualify.
8. Miss X complained to the Council because she was unhappy with the Council’s response to her application, and she said the information she received conflicted with what she had been told in 2018 when she first enquired about the exemption.
9. The Council investigated and did not uphold Miss X’s complaint. The Council advised that in order for Miss X to qualify for the exemption she would need to provide proof she had permanently vacated her property and the evidence showed she had continued to claim a single person discount and had indicated that she would be returning to the property. The Council also explained it could not accept the information she had provided in lieu of a doctor’s note.
10. Miss X remains unhappy with the Council’s policy and wants us to find the Council at fault. The Ombudsman cannot question the merits of a Council’s decision if it has been made correctly. The evidence shows Miss X does not satisfy the criteria to be eligible for the Council tax exemption and the Council has correctly communicated this to Miss X. An investigation would be unlikely to result in a finding of fault on the Council’s part.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman