Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council withdrew a council tax refund after it had issued the closing bill. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council accepted his request for a council tax refund and then withdrew the credit. Mr X wants a sincere apology and for the Council to honour the final bill.

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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 an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, 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 Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council awarded discretionary council tax support from November 2023 to 31 March 2024.
5. Mr X moved house and the Council sent a closing council tax bill in February showing he had a credit of £136. The Council agreed to refund this sum to Mr X.
6. The Council then removed the credit because it realised the final bill included the discretionary award for the weeks after Mr X had left the property until the end of March. The Council removed the discretionary award for those weeks and issued a new bill which said Mr X owed £34.
7. Mr X complained and said the Council should honour the final bill. The Council apologised and said it should have removed the remaining discretionary award before it issued the final bill. It said it could not pay the refund but it awarded another discretionary payment to cover the outstanding £34. This means the balance on the account is zero and Mr X does not need to pay anything.
8. Mr X remains of the view the Council should honour the final bill. He says he was expecting to get £136 and the removal has disrupted his financial planning.
9. The Council made a mistake because it did not remove the remaining discretionary award from the final bill. When the Council corrected this error it meant there was nothing to refund and Mr X owed £34. Mr X has not done anything wrong but he was not entitled to the discretionary award for the weeks after he had moved. The Council failed to remove the award at the correct time but was correct to remove it. The Council then acted appropriately by waiving the outstanding charge leaving Mr X with a zero balance.
10. There was an error by the Council but it has not caused an injustice requiring an investigation. I say this because Mr X was not entitled to a refund and the Council waived the outstanding charge. I appreciate Mr X was expecting the refund and it disrupted his financial plans but, while I acknowledge he may have felt frustrated and disappointed, this does not represent a degree of injustice requiring an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman