Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an application for discretionary council tax support. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, says the Council should award £4773 in council tax support as stated in a letter it sent. Ms X also complains the Council will not allow her to send financial information to an individual email address.

Back to top

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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• 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))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

4. Ms X contacted the Council about discretionary council tax support but had not made an application.
5. In November the Council sent Ms X a letter saying it had awarded £4773 to help with her council tax arrears. The Council also said it had not received an application for support from her and it sent her an application form. The Council said it could only consider an award if she made an application.
6. Ms X thought she had been awarded £4773 but still submitted an application form. The Council assessed the application and awarded £300 towards her arrears and waived costs of £366. It asked her to send some financial information so it could consider setting up a payment plan for the remaining arrears and to consider if it could make an additional award.
7. Ms X complained. She said the award of £4773 is binding. She also asked for an individual email address (for example, a manger) to send her financial information to. Ms X says that, for privacy reasons, she would prefer not to use a generic email address.
8. In reply, the Council apologised and said the reference to an award of £4773 was an error. It said that went it sent this letter it had not yet received an application so could not make an award. The Council apologised for the miscommunication, error and disappointment. The Council encouraged Ms X to send information about her finances so it could consider an additional award and a revised payment plan. It said that all documents must be sent to the dedicated email address rather than to an individual email address. It explained what email address she should use and provided information about how it handles information.
9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice. I appreciate the award of £4773 would have been welcomed by Ms X and she would have felt disappointed when the Council told her it was a mistake. However, as she had not yet applied for support, there was no award for the Council to make – as such there was nothing that could be considered legally binding. I do not know how the error occurred. But, while something clearly went wrong, this error does not mean the Council is required to pay £4773. If the Council had sent Ms X a bill for £4773 in error, then, once the error came to light, it would not expect her to pay that amount.
10. An application for discretionary support is assessed on the applicant’s circumstances; the award of £300 (plus removal of costs) was the award the Council made after it assessed Ms X’s circumstances.
11. I acknowledge Ms X would prefer to send her financial information to a different email address. However, the Council considered her request and explained that she needs to use the generic address; it also provided information regarding how it protects information. I appreciate Ms X would like to use a different address but the Council’s position does not represent fault, even though Ms X may disagree with it.
12. Ms X would like to pay £5 a month towards the arrears. I cannot comment on this as it is for the Council to work out a payment plan based on the financial information Ms X provides.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman