Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how a Council has handled Council Tax liability on a property. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council mishandled her and her partner’s Council Tax account, resulting in it cancelling a direct debit and wrongly sending an overpayment.
2. Ms X also says there was a data breach when the Council sent letters to another person who does not live in her home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Ms X.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X complained the Council confused who was living at her home. She says this led to poor handling of her and her partner’s Council Tax account, resulting in the Council stopping her direct debit without telling her.
8. Ms X also says the Council sent her a refund for an overpayment of Council Tax which it is now seeking to recover. Ms X does not dispute she is liable for the Council Tax. However, she believes she should be allowed to keep it to remedy the injustice she says she has experienced by the Council’s poor handling of her Council Tax account.
9. The Council accepted it made errors when handling Ms X’s account, apologised and offered a repayment plan at an early stage in its complaint procedure. These are appropriate to remedy any injustice Ms X experienced. Therefore, the Council is entitled to recover the overpayment it wrongly made.
10. The Council is taking recovery action via the court about the return of the overpayment. We cannot investigate this because the law prevents us from considering a complaint about the start of court action. Ms X could present her views to the court who can consider them.
11. Ms X also says the Council sent letters to her home intended for another person who does not live there. Ms X regards this as a data breach.
12. Any injustice resulting from the Council’s actions are to another person and not Ms X. Therefore, we will not investigate this further.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. Ms X can also present her views to the court.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman