Medway Council (19 003 262)
Category : Benefits and tax > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Jul 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate that some people have not paid their business rates. He is unlikely to find fault by the Council has caused the complainant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Ms B, has complained that some other people have not paid their business rates.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
- We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault;
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Ms B said in her complaint and background information provided by the Council.
Final decision
- I have decided we will not investigate this complaint because whether or not other people have paid their business rates would not cause Ms B any personal injustice.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman