Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council replied to his Council Tax account. It is unlikely that we would achieve more than the explanation it gave Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council to properly investigate his complaint about how Council officers handled his Council Tax account. He says this has caused him significant emotional and financial distress.

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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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization. (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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X was in arrears for his Council Tax account for 2023/24. He was then late paying his July 2024 instalment. The Council sent him a reminder. He says he telephoned the Council to pay an amount before the date given on his reminder. He says he then received a Court summons. He says he then telephoned the Council again and got confusing information which did not match that given in his earlier call. He complained to the Council.
6. The Council replied at stage one and stage two of its complaints’ procedure. It accepts there may have been confusing information given. There was some confusion over which years accounts payments were being made to. It says none of this caused any extra costs to be added to Mr X’s account and it had all been cleared up.
7. The Council says there is always a level of effort required to manage personal financial affairs. Mr X says the Council has not replied to, or investigated his complaint as thoroughly as he would like.

Analysis

8. The Council has explained to Mr X broadly what happened, the account has been put right and he has incurred no extra costs. We will not therefore investigate the events which led to his complaint as its unlikely we could achieve more.
9. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to achieve more than the Council’s explanation to Mr X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman