Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the amount of a council tax credit is wrong. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, says a council tax credit should be £229 rather than £58.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council says Mr X is due a council tax refund of £83. Mr X says this is wrong and he is owed £229. He says he paid the council tax through his bank and the Council has not added all his payments to the account.
5. The Council checked Mr X’s account and provided a detailed explanation of why the credit is £83. It provided details of payments he made and payments it received from his benefits. It referred to periods in 2023 when he was not entitled to council tax support (CTS) and said he did not increase his council tax payments to reflect this. The Council acknowledged Mr X tried to dispute the CTS decision in 2023 but says the challenge lapsed because he did not provide the information the Council requested. The Council has now invited Mr X to provide evidence of any missing payments.
6. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council responded appropriately by explaining how and why the credit is £83 and invited him to provide evidence of an error. There is nothing obviously wrong with the explanation and it was correct for the Council to invite further evidence from Mr X.
7. As Mr X continues to dispute the amount of the refund, he would need to provide the Council with specific evidence to show that the explanation is wrong. For example, if he thinks there are missing payments he would need to provide proof of the payment and show the payment was not added to his account. This is not something we can do and it is not our role to do so. Mr X could seek advice from an advice agency if he needs help to take this matter further.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman