Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a council tax account. Any injustice Mrs X has experienced is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X has provided information to the Council about an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA), relevant to this complaint the IVA covered council tax payments.
2. The council has accepted that it had not updated it's records to reflect the IVA and has apologised. In December 2025 it told Mrs X that it would update her records and reminders for payment would stop.
3. These reminders caused stress and anxiety to Mrs X as they did not owe the debt. Mrs X stated the reminders continued to be sent up to and including April 2026.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the council
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X successfully applied for an IVA that included council tax debt. Mrs X said the Council did not update its records and continued to send requests for payment.
8. The Council upheld a complaint from Mrs X about this and apologised. The Council explained what it needed to do to update Mrs X’s council tax account.
9. The Council continued to send correspondence for payment after it had upheld the complaint.
10. The Council reported that the case is ongoing regarding application of the IVA to the tax account.
11. We will not investigate this complaint, the injustice experienced does not meet the threshold for investigation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs’s X complaint because there is not enough evidence of her suffering significant injustice in how the Council managed its records.
13. We ask that the Council updates its records to accurately reflect the tax account immediately.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman