Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax payments. This is because there is no significant injustice to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council allocated payments he made towards his council tax arrears for 2020- 21 incorrectly. He says there are no arrears and the Council unfairly sent a reminder letter threatening enforcement action which caused him stress and anxiety.

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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, or

(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 the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
5. The Council replied it had allocated payments Mr X made for an arrears payment arrangement for 2020-2022 to other years. It explained its practice was to allocate payments to the current years to avoid additional recovery and costs. It apologised for the confusion this may have caused. It said it had reallocated the payments to the year Mr X intended to pay. However, this still left the same arrears balance of £727 outstanding. It provided a statement of payments and allocations. The statement showed arrears for 2023/24 and 2024/25.
6. The Council noted Mr X’s complaint that it sent a reminder while his complaint was outstanding. However, it said that the arrears were outstanding, and it would consider a suitable payment arrangement.
7. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no significant injustice that warrants investigation. The Council explained its allocations and revised these to the years Mr X intended. The payment allocations did not make a difference to the overall balance or the recovery action and costs.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints that the Council unfairly sent a reminder and that it was wrong to say he had any arrears. The Council’s statement shows that were shortfalls in Mr X’s payments to two council tax years. There is insufficient evidence of fault here to warrant investigation. There is no significant injustice from the reminder to justify investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no significant injustice or sufficient evidence of fault that warrants investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman