Cheshire West & Chester Council (25 005 907)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Oct 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council overcharging Miss X for council tax. This is because an investigation would not achieve a different outcome for her.
The complaint
- Miss X complained after the Council overcharged her for council tax.
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:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, 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 Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complained to the Council after it overcharged her for council tax without notice in January 2025 and did not acknowledge or correct the error until May 2025.
- The Council agreed that Miss X had experienced a shortfall in service and offered her £50 as a goodwill award. The Council also advised it would feedback about the incident to its staff to ensure it did not happen again.
- Miss X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions and wants us to find it at fault. The Council has accepted fault, offered a proportionate goodwill award, and said it will discuss her feedback with staff. These are reasonable actions for the Council to take and in line with what the Ombudsman would expect. Further investigation into this matter would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve a different outcome for her.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman