London Borough of Bromley (25 003 311)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Jul 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an increase in the complainant’s council tax. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and we could not achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council increased his council tax and reduced his council tax support (CTS).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X. This includes the Council’s complaint response. I also considered information on the Council’s website about the CTS reduction and our Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council made a policy decision to reduce the maximum support available through the CTS scheme from 70% to 50%. This means that someone who gets maximum CTS will now have to pay 50% of their council tax rather than 30%. This change applies to all CTS claimants including Mr X. To mitigate the impact the Council increased the funding to its hardship support fund. The Council signposted Mr X to this additional support.
- Mr X complains about the increase in his council tax. I appreciate Mr X may find it hard to pay the additional council tax, but I will not investigate the complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. This is because the Council made a policy decision to change the CTS scheme and the council tax increase for Mr X reflects the new decision. We cannot change the new policy or tell the Council not to apply the new policy to Mr X. Mr X can apply to the hardship fund if he is finding it hard to pay the increased council tax.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because an investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman