Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s requirement that Mr X apply for council tax reduction. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council will not award him discretionary tax relief and is requiring him to first apply for council tax reduction. He also complained the Council has demonstrated bias towards him and failed to show empathy for his vulnerability.

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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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained the Council will not award him discretionary tax relief without first requiring him to apply for council tax reduction. He also said a council employee told him he would not get council tax reduction if he applied for it and this caused him to feel the Council is biased against him and has not considered his vulnerabilities.
6. The Council advised it would not award discretionary tax relief if Mr X did not first take steps to maximise his income, which included applying for any financial assistance he could be entitled to. The Council cited its policy in support of this position and outlined information it has previously provided Mr X to support him.
7. Mr X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions. The Ombudsman cannot fault the Council for following its policy and requiring Mr X to apply for council tax reduction if he is experiencing financial hardship before offering discretionary tax relief. There is no evidence the Council is biased towards Mr X nor that it has failed to consider his personal circumstances. An investigation into this matter would not be likely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman