South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council (25 003 937)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Sep 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to consider Miss X’s reasonable adjustments before recovering her council tax debt. This is because the Council has already put things right with its complaint response. An investigation would be unlikely to provide a different outcome.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council did not consider her reasonable adjustments before trying to get the money back she owes on her council tax account.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide 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 Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X was unhappy with the Council because it was taking money from her benefits due to council tax debt on her account. She complained to the Council because it did not make reasonable adjustments for her medical condition before it took this action.
- The Council agreed with Miss X and apologised. The Council cancelled the debt for the years 2022 to 2024 and told her it would put the reasonable adjustments into place for her going forward.
- The Ombudsman does not investigate complaints where it does not seem likely it can make a difference. In this situation, the Council has responded to Miss X in the way we would expect it to, by providing Miss X with the reasonable adjustments she has asked for. An investigation would not make a difference to what has happened.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to provide a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman