Summary: Ms X complained of the Council’s handling of her council tax bill. This included issuing multiple confusing bills and failing to give a refund she was eligible for. Ms X also says the Council stopped her council tax reductions and failed to inform her of this. The Council was at fault for its poor communication regarding the refund. It was also at fault for its delayed complaint responses. However, the Council was not at fault for issuing multiple bills or how it assesses council tax reductions. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Ms X to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty its poor communication caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her council tax bill. This included issuing multiple confusing bills and failing to give a refund she was eligible for. Ms X also says the Council stopped her council tax reductions and failed to inform her of this. She says this has impacted her financially which has caused distress, frustration and uncertainty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. I considered comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

7. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)
8. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments. If a person who has to pay council tax misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If they still do not pay, or miss another payment, then they must pay all they owe (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
9. Council tax reduction (CTR), also known as council tax support is a discount, not a benefit. It reduces the amount of council tax a person has to pay. The amount of council tax reduction awarded varies according to the income, savings and personal circumstances of the claimant and anyone else living in their household.
10. The council tax reduction is a means tested benefit. The Council’s benefits service needs to know about all a claimant’s income and savings. Benefit claimants have a duty to report any changes in circumstances that could affect the amount of benefit being paid to them.

Council’s complaint policy

11. The Council’s complaint policy states it will investigate and respond to a stage one complaint within 20 working days. If a person escalates their complaint, the Council will investigate and respond to a stage two complaint within another 20 working days.

What happened

12. Ms X is eligible for CTR and has been receiving for this for several years. In April 2023, Ms X complained the Council was sending her numerous council tax bills throughout the year where the amount she owed kept changing.
13. In May 2023, the Council issued a stage one response. The Council explained it must send a new bill every time there is a change in income. The Council said where the calculation alters several times, it will send Ms X several different bills.
14. Ms X was dissatisfied with the Council’s response and requested it to be considered as a stage two complaint in October 2023.
15. In May 2024, the Council sent a letter to Ms X saying her account was in credit of approximately £400 and advised it could pay this back to her. Ms X called the Council about this and it told her to provide it with her bank details and she would receive the refund in three to five days. However, to date Ms X has not received a refund. She says despite this the Council has not reduced her council tax payments either.
16. Between May and August 2024, Ms X says the Council stopped the CTR payments she was entitled to and failed to inform her of this. She says this is why her council tax bill was so high. Ms X made a further complaint to the Council about this and the refund she did not receive.
17. In September 2024, the Council issued a stage two response. In response to the Council issuing numerous council tax bills, it said whenever there is a change to CTR it will generate a new bill. It advised in Ms X’s case, the CTR applied to her account was changing monthly due to the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) notifying the Council of any changes to her benefits and income. Ms X told us she works over-time which means her income changes regularly. In its stage two response, the Council did not address the concerns raised about the refund or stopping the CTR payments.
18. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s handling of the matter and complained to us.

Council’s response to our enquiries

Failure to refund council tax credit

19. The Council accepts it did not refund the credit to Ms X’s bank account. However, it has provided Ms X’s council tax statements which shows it applied the credit to her account which reduced the amount of council tax she owed. As of May 2024, Ms X still had almost £900 of council tax left to pay for the year. The Council used the credit to reduce the bill to approximately £460. As of December 2024, Ms X had paid the full bill and was not in debit or credit.

Issuing multiple council tax bills

20. The Council says it is bound by its CTR regulations meaning every time a claimants income changes, the CTR changes. If the CTR changes every month, this will in turn produce a revised council tax bill.

Stopping CTR payments and failing to notifying Ms X of this

21. The Council has provided the dates Ms X received no weekly CTR payments. These are as follows:
• 27/05/2024-02/06/2024
• 03/06/2024-30/06/2024
• 29/07/2024-25/08/2024
22. The Council has provided evidence that between 30/06/2024-29/07/2024 Ms X received CTR. The evidence also shows Ms X regularly received CTR between 2023-2024 but these were inconsistent amounts. It says any increases or decreases to CTR payments is dependent on income change and benefit calculation. The Council says it sends monthly letters to Ms X which gives a breakdown of her CTR payments. It has provided evidence of this.

My findings

Failure to refund council tax credit

23. The Council has accepted it did not refund the council tax credit to Ms X’s account. It advised if it had done this, she would have had approximately £900 left to pay of her council tax bill.
24. However, the Council told Ms X it was refunding the amount to her bank account and it has not explained why it failed to carry this out in any complaint responses. That was fault which caused Ms X distress and uncertainty. The Council instead used the credit to reduce the amount of council tax Ms X owed which was not fault.

Issuing multiple council tax bills

25. The Council has said in both complaint responses a new bill must be sent out every time there is a change in income. Ms X has advised she works overtime which regularly changes her income. This in turn changes her CTR entitlement and then a new bill must be sent out. Whilst this may cause Ms X frustration, the Council needs to notify Ms X when her monthly council tax payments change so she is not making any overpayments or underpayments. Therefore, the Council was not as fault.

Stopping CTR payments and failing to notifying Ms X of this

26. Ms X says the Council stopped her CTR payments and failed to notify her of this. As a result, she says this increased her bill. Paragraph 21 details the dates Ms X did not receive CTR payments. However, the Council says this would have been because of changes to income or benefits rather than the Council stopping the payments. The evidence provided by the Council shows she regularly received CTR payments but always in different amounts. When she received no CTR, this was sporadic rather than over consecutive months. On a balance of probabilities, when Ms X received no CTR payments this was due to changes to her income rather than the Council actively stopping the payments. The Council has also provided evidence it sends Ms X letters giving a breakdown of the CTR payments including when this is zero. Therefore, the Council was not at fault.

Complaint handling

27. In October 2023, Ms X escalated her complaint to stage two. The Council should have issued a stage two response in 20 working days which would have been end of November 2023. The Council did not issue a response until start of September 2024. It was issued approximately 10 months out of timescale which was fault. This has caused Ms X distress, frustration and uncertainty.

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Action

28. Within one month of the final decision the Council has agreed to take the following action:
1. Apologise to Ms X for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by its poor communication and delayed complaint handling. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
2. Pay Ms X £100 to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by its poor communication and delayed complaint handling.
3. Remind complaints officers to address the full complaint in its complaint responses and provide responses in line with the timescales set out in the Council’s corporate complaints policy.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

30. I found fault causing injustice. The Council had agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman