Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to provide Mr X with a council tax refund or to properly respond to his complaint about this. This is because he has right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it would be reasonable for him to use it.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to give him a council tax refund he believes he is owed.
2. He further complains the Council has not provided an accurate breakdown of his council tax payments or properly responded to his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X says he is entitled to exemptions from paying council tax for the period 2020 to 2024. provided the Council with information from his GP which made him exempt from paying council tax. The Council has provided Mr X with refunds of the council tax he paid between 2020 and 2024 to reflect this. but Mr X says the Council still owes him a refund of approximately £600.
8. Mr X says he first raised this issue with the Council in 2024 and provided evidence it had failed to refund him correctly. Mr X says the Council responded with inaccurate figures which did not match his.
9. Mr X formally complained to the Council in February 2025. The Council upheld Mr X’s complaint at Stage 1 of its complaints process after investigating and finding a period where Mr X should have been made exempt from paying council tax but hadn’t

Should not use contracted verbs. Pls change to had not

been. The Council also applied a £599.53 refund to the account because of this.

10. Mr X was not happy with the Council’s response and escalated the complaint. The Council took several months to respond to Mr X at Stage 2, by which time Mr X had brought the matter to us.

If we are not investigating we should not go into detail as to what happened.

You should simply keep para 7 and then para 11. delete paras 8-10.

11. The Council’s final complaint response said Mr X had received all refunds he was due and included a breakdown of all payments and refunds on Mr X’s account.
12. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s management of his council tax and its response to his complaint. The Ombudsman does not consider complaints where the complainant has right of appeal to another body and it would be reasonable for them to use it. In this case, Mr X can appeal the Council’s decision regarding his council tax exemption to the Valuation Tribunal

Only if the council gave him appeal rights- see N&A

.

13. It would have been best practice for the Council to respond to Mr X’s complaint within a timely manner

We should not comment on complaint handling at all. You can simply say

“It is not a proportionate use of our resources to investigate the Council's complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue.”

however it is not a good use of resources to consider this complaint point when the substantive complaint is not within our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it would be reasonable for him to use it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman