Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an error involving the complainant’s direct debit and council tax. This is because the Council has provided a satisfactory response.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, says the Council insinuated she is a lair and failed to understand the impact of an error relating to her council tax. Ms X wants compensation.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and the Council’s agreement to make a symbolic payment of £100. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Ms X was paying her council tax by direct debit. When she received a new council tax bill she cancelled the existing direct debit and set up a new one. She thought the Council was receiving her payments by direct debit.
5. The Council made an error; it cancelled the old direct debit but did not set up the new one. This led to the Council issuing a new bill and a reminder which Ms X says she did not receive. Ms X continued to think she was paying her council tax and was unaware of the arrears. The Council then issued a summons.
6. Ms X contacted the Council. The Council withdrew the summons and the costs. It re-arranged the payments so they were more in line with what the instalments would have been if the Council had not made the error. Unfortunately, there was another error as it appears the Council did not correctly set up the payment date for the new direct debit. Ms X had to contact the Council again. The Council then changed the direct debit to Ms X’s preferred date and offered to re-schedule the payments beyond March.
7. The Council made some errors but I will not start an investigation because it has provided a satisfactory response. It explained what went wrong and apologised. It withdrew the summons and the costs, re-scheduled the monthly payments, offered longer to pay, and changed the direct debit date. It has taken action to stop the error being repeated and agreed to make a symbolic payment of £100.
8. This is a satisfactory response. The overall amount of council tax has not increased and the Council cancelled the costs. The Council apologised and the symbolic payment recognises the stress and time and trouble caused to Ms X. I acknowledge it took the Council a little time establish what had gone wrong but I have not seen anything to suggest it insinuated Ms X is a liar. I appreciate Ms X’s payments increased because she had a shorter time to pay, but the Council offered to extend the payment period.
9. Ms X says the wrong payment date for the new direct debit led to her bank refusing a payment. This, however, does need a specific remedy because Ms X viewed the revised bill on 30 May and had time to contact the Council about the payment date before the payment was taken on 1 July.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has provided a satisfactory remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman