Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to properly consider Mrs X’s complaint concerning council tax liability. This is because there is a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, and it is not proportionate to consider complaint handling or communication issues as a separate matter.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has failed to properly consider her complaint concerning council tax liability. She says the Council has failed to deal with her stag two complaint. Mrs X says this has had a substantial financial and administrative impact. She wants the Council to:
• consider her complaint at stage two;
• apologise and review whether the matter was handled fairly;
• correct any inaccurate information;
• provide a financial remedy; and
• implement service improvements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
5. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. In its stage one complaint response, the Council told Mrs X she could appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if she disagreed with its decision to treat her property as a House in Multiple Occupation for council tax purposes.
9. When Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage two, she said procedural failings had resulted in council tax liability of more than £4,000. If Mrs X disputed that liability, she had a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. It would have been reasonable to expect her to use that right. The Tribunal is independent and can decide disputes about council tax liability, discounts and exemptions.
10. Mrs X says her complaint is about the Council’s complaint handling and communication rather than council tax liability. However, the substantive issue is the Council’s decision about liability, for which she had a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The Council responded at stage one and advised Mrs X of that right. We will not investigate the complaint handling and communication issues separately because any resulting injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, and it is not proportionate to investigate complaint handling or communication issues as a separate matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman