Winchester City Council (25 013 592)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Jan 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his council tax payments. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about how the Council handled his enquiries about updating council tax payments.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains the Council delayed responding to his request to update his council tax payment schedule. He says the Council then issued an incorrect bill. The Council agreed with Mr X and apologised for the delay. It re-issued the incorrect bill the following day.
- I will not investigate this complaint as I do not consider this matter has caused Mr X significant injustice. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman