London Borough of Barnet (26 013 056)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Ms X complains that the Council delayed issuing her a Council tax bill after she told it of a change of circumstances.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X says that she told the Council that she had left her previous home in July 2025. However, the Council says that there is no evidence of this and a bill was not issued until January 2026 when the Council says it was told by the benefit department. The Council issued the new bill for the backdated sum.
- There is no clear evidence that the Council was told at the time Ms X moved. However, she would have been aware that a Council tax bill would be issued and could set aside payment for this.
- The Ombudsman would not therefore investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The injustice to Ms X is limited as she does not have to pay any more Council tax than she would have had to pay had the Council acted sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman