South Gloucestershire Council (25 030 944)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a delayed re-banding of Council tax because the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council unreasonably delayed the re-banding of his Council tax.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that the Valuation Office Agency agreed to change his Council tax band in October 2025, Despite this the band had not changed and he had overpaid.
- The Council apologised for the error and the banding has changed and the overpayment has been refunded.
- I consider that this is a reasonable settlement of the complaint and there are not grounds to investigate this matter further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been settled.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman