Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council wrongly charged him for business rates on his business premises. This is because the issue stems from Valuation Office Agency’s decision to list the premises separately rather than any decision by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has wrongly charged him business rates on a single premises as if it were two separate premises

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint where the body complained about is not responsible for the issue being raised. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response.

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What I found

6. Business rates is a local tax on business premises. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) keeps the business rating list and decides if a property should be rated, the rateable value and the date each property enters and leaves the list. The Council then collects business rates based on a simple calculation set by central government.
7. The Council is pursuing Mr X for unpaid business rates. Mr X disputes the business rates owed as he says the Council is wrongly charging him for two separate business premises when it is only one. He applied to the VOA to merge the premises and it updated the rating list from 1 April 2017. Mr X was then eligible for small business rate relief which reduced his liability from this date.
8. However the Council says Mr X still owes business rates from the period prior to 1 April 2017, when the premises were separately listed. He believes it was wrong to record the premises separately and to charge business rates on this basis.
9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. Mr X’s business rates liability stems from the VOA’s decision to record the premises separately on the ratings list and this is something the Council had no control over. The Council collects business rates but it did not make the decision to list the premises separately. We cannot therefore achieve anything for Mr X by investigating his complaint about the Council as it is not responsible for the decision about which he complains.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X’s claimed injustice stems from the VOA’s decision rather than any decision of the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman