Three Rivers District Council (25 020 672)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of Miss X’s council tax account. This is because there is insignificant injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council incorrectly cancelled her direct debit for council tax and issued contradictory bills.
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, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complained the Council wrongly cancelled her direct debit and issued several confusing bills as a result. She was also unhappy her instalments schedule was affected.
- The Council confirmed the direct debit was cancelled due to an error. The Council amended her instalments to reflect the cancellation after she contacted it then reinstated them shortly afterwards. The Council said it would consider setting up an alert to ensure this did not happen again.
- Miss X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions. The evidence shows Miss X’s direct debit and instalments have been reinstated and she was not put to significant time and trouble or financial loss due to this. The injustice suffered is therefore minimal and not sufficient to warrant investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman