Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax administration as it is unlikely we will find fault causing a significant injustice and we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council, unbeknownst to him, cancelled his council tax account and so no payments were collected for nearly a year. Mr X says he did not notice that payments were not leaving his bank account and that he has been caused financial difficulty in having to pay larger instalments to clear the balance that had accrued. Mr X wants the Council to write off the council tax that remains to be paid for the period in question.

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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 insufficient evidence of Council fault or any fault has not caused a significant injustice, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or we cannot change the outcome of the complaint. (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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. I recognise that Mr X is unhappy with what took place, but we cannot ask the Council to write off the council tax that is owed. Council tax must legally be collected and is paid to the public purse.
6. While the Council acknowledges the account was closed, it says it acted in good faith on information provided to it by an energy company. It also says it wrote to Mr X to inform him of the account closure. As such, it is not clear what evidence of fault Mr X’s complaint provides. Additionally, while I appreciate that Mr X says he did not notice payments were not leaving his bank, I consider it not unreasonable to expect him to have noticed this at some point and to have contacted the Council sooner. As such, if the Council did act with fault, it did not, in my view, lead to the full extent of the injustice Mr X claims.
7. The Council has given Mr X information about schemes that may be able to help him if he is financially struggling to pay the council tax. It is unlikely an investigation by us could add to this.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find any council fault caused Mr X a significant injustice and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman