Summary: Mr X complained the Council refunded £505.84 after it revised his council tax bill, instead of the £577.84 overpayment he was due. He said this left him £72 short. We found no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council failed to issue the correct refund after revising his council tax liability. He says the Council refunded £505.84 instead of £577.84, leaving him £72 short.
2. Mr X wants the Council to pay the missing £72 and explain why it mishandled the refund.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant legislation and guidance

7. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)
8. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments. If a person who has to pay council tax misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If they still do not pay, or miss another payment, then they must pay all they owe (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
9. Councils who want to recover unpaid council tax have to ask the magistrate’s court for a liability order against people it thinks owe it the money. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed.
10. Most often councils take what is owed directly from the person’s benefits, from their wages (called getting an attachment of earnings order) or using enforcement agents. The council can decide how to recover what is owed but it can only use one method for one liability order at one time.

What happened

11. The Council issued two bills to Mr X on 9 April 2024.
12. The first bill was for £230.89 for the period February to March 2024. Mr X did not pay this so the Council issued a final notice on 6 May followed by a summons on 3 June. This added £55 court charges on top of the bill. Mr X paid £230.89 on the 12 June but did not pay the £55 added charges. The Council later issued a liability order which added a further £17 in costs, leaving a balance of £72 unpaid.
13. The second bill was issued for £1528.34 for the tax year 2024 to 2025. No payment was received so the Council issued a reminder on 28 May. Mr X set up a direct debit on 25 June to pay the bill in instalments. The first instalment failed.
14. The Council sent another reminder on 29 August and a summons on 20 September as no payments were received. The summons added £55 in costs in addition to the bill. A liability order was later issued on 23 Oct as Mr X still made no payment, this added £17 in costs.
15. Mr X made a payment of £1583.24 on 24 October, which covered the £1528.34 bill and £55 summons costs. Mr X paid the remaining £17 liability order costs on 1 November. The second bill had no outstanding balance.
16. Mr X notified the Council of a new occupier on 13 November. The Council recalculated his council tax liability and said there was an overpayment of £577.84, which Mr X agreed with. The Council deducted the outstanding balance of £72 from the first bill before it issued the refund. It refunded Mr X £505.84, leaving no outstanding balance.
17. Mr X disagreed with the deduction and complained to the Council. The Council upheld its decision that the correct amount was refunded.

My findings

18. The Council’s complaint response did not explain there were two separate liability orders with added charges of £72 each. It only referred to the £72 charges added to the bill for £1528.34, which Mr X paid. This caused some confusion. Mr X believed he was wrongly charged twice after it deducted another £72 for a bill which he already paid. It would have been helpful if it explained the outstanding charges were for the £230.89 bill issued for period February to March 2024. This may have avoided any confusion. But I do not consider the lack of a detailed explanation to be significant enough to make a finding of fault.
19. The Council deducted the outstanding balance from the amount to be refunded. It correctly issued the refund, so there is no fault found in the Council’s actions.

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Decision

20. I have completed my investigation and do not uphold Mr X’s complaint. The Council was not at fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman