London Borough of Brent (25 009 842)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Ms X’s council tax account. This is because the Council has already taken suitable action.
The complaint
- Ms X complains the Council made mistakes in handling her council tax account when she sold a property. It sent a reminder and said she had not paid when she had. She says she is vulnerable and the Council caused her distress and anxiety. She seeks a financial remedy in addition to the Council’s apology.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X sold a property in 2025. She complained to the Council in June 2025 regarding the matters set out in paragraph 1.
- The Council accepted that it sent Ms X a reminder in error. Ms X had made payment to the Council’s enforcement agent, but the agent had not passed the payment on. In addition, the Council’s early responses in June 2025 did not check that Ms X had made payment two weeks earlier.
- The Council said that its officers had not checked payments received with the enforcement agent. The Council apologised for this and the reminder. It said it would remind its agents to process payments promptly and it would remind officers to check payment status with agents before responding. The Council did not accept it was at fault for passing the account to its agents as Ms X had not paid in accordance with the bill it sent in 2024.
- I consider that the Council has already taken suitable action to address the injustice caused by its faults, as it apologised within two weeks of the error. I do not consider that an Ombudsman investigation is warranted.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we are satisfied the Council has taken appropriate action to address the injustice due to its fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman