Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council had no authorisation from Mr X to collect council tax payments from his bank by direct debit as he is not caused a level of injustice from this to justify our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council took money from his bank by direct debit for council tax payments when it had no authorisation to do so and that the Council delayed in providing a response to his complaint. Mr X says this caused him avoidable stress, uncertainty and loss of confidence in the Council's processes.

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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 any fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained (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. While I recognise Mr X says he did not give authorisation to the Council to take payments by direct debit, the Council did make him aware it had set the direct debit up. At this point, Mr X could have cancelled it, but he chose to allow the payments to go through to avoid disruption. I do not consider therefore that any fault by the Council caused Mr X a level of injustice that would warrant our further involvement, as in essence Mr X agreed to the direct debit, even though he had outstanding concerns about it.
6. There was some delay in the Council providing Mr X with its complaint response. The Council has apologised to Mr X for this. I do not consider that any remaining injustice in this regard is sufficient to justify our investigating.
7. I recognise Mr X says he has lost confidence in the Council’s processes, but it has explained what took place in his case and I do not consider the complaint provides clear evidence of any systemic fault by the Council, that would warrant our investigating.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he was not caused significant injustice from any Council fault and our involvement is not therefore warranted.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman