North Somerset Council (24 006 942)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax. This is because the Council has agreed to remedy the injustice.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council charged extra fees to his council tax account for an empty property when he was disputing it. He says this caused him stress and anxiety.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained the Council said it would hold action while it responded to his dispute. However, sent its response to the wrong email address and then progressed recovery to enforcement agents, who added fees.
- If we investigated this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault causing the complainant injustice. This is because the Council accepts it sent its response to the wrong email address. Mr and Mrs X had not received a response, and believed the account was on hold as the dispute was not answered. They did not expect enforcement action to continue. They were not given the opportunity to pay the outstanding £95 summons cost before enforcement action resumed. At our invitation the Council agreed to remove the enforcement agent’s fees
Agreed action
- Within one month of my decision the Council agreed to:
- Apologise to Mr and Mrs X and
- remove the £310 enforcement agent fees, refunding this to Mr and Mrs X.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman