Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of information Mr X provided to it regarding his liability for council tax. This is because the substantive matter, council tax liability, could have been challenged by Mr X via an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not allow its Monitoring Officer (MO) to consider information he had supplied to them about the Council’s handling of his council tax account, after it decided he was liable for council tax. Mr X says this has prevented him fair process and caused him inconvenience as he has had to escalate the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate as the substantive matter, the Council’s decision that Mr X was liable for council tax, could have been challenged by Mr X via an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal (VT). This is a simple, no-cost process and is the procedure provided in law to allow citizens the right to challenge council tax liability decisions. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have used this appeal right. As this would have addressed the issue at the heart of this complaint, we will not investigate the associated matter Mr X complains about as it would not be a good use of our limited resources.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it would not be a good use of our limited resources when he had a right of appeal to address the substantive matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman