Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his seeking a reduction in council tax. The Ombudsman does not have the legal power to investigate this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has not reduced his council tax to take account of some services being unavailable due to Covid-19 measures. He also complains about how the Council dealt with his enquiries.

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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. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
3. The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X asked the Council to reduce his council tax due to the lack of some services because of measures related to Covid-19. He cites as examples the lack of refuse and recycling collections; the closure of the household recycling centre, libraries and leisure facilities; and lack of pavement and street-light maintenance. Some of those services are the responsibility of Colchester Borough Council, others are the responsibility of Essex County Council. I understand Mr X asked Colchester Borough Council to reduce the council tax because that Council collects the council tax.
6. Mr X reports he had to store and deal with his waste and recycling himself, weeds grew on the pavement and a streetlight in an alley was not fixed. He considers it wrong that he should continue paying his normal level of council tax in the circumstances. The Council did not reduce the council tax.
7. This complaint mainly affects Mr X in his position as a council taxpayer. That is not significantly different to the position of most residents of the Council’s area. Therefore the restriction in paragraph 2 applies. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint.
8. Mr X argues the Council wasted taxpayers’ money on signage and road-widening related to Covid-19 distancing measures. Again, this point affects Mr X as a council taxpayer, so the same limit on the Ombudsman’s powers applies.
9. Mr X is also dissatisfied with how the Council handled his communications, including not replying to some of his correspondence after the Council’s complaints procedure ended and sending a letter suggesting Mr X was behaving unreasonably.
10. As paragraph 3 explained, we cannot consider any of the Council’s actions about a matter (here, the level of council tax) that is outside our jurisdiction. So I shall not investigate this point.

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Final decision

11. I do appreciate Mr X is very dissatisfied. However, the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s legal powers.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman