Summary: Ms X complained about the Council failing to inform her about the availability of small business grants when other units on the site were notified. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that she did not receive letters from the Council about small business rate grants available for qualifying businesses whilst other units on the site did. She says this disadvantaged her and she may have benefitted from the scheme.

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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, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Ms X submitted with her complaint. Ms X has been given an opportunity to comment on a draft copy of my decision.

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What I found

4. Ms X says she moved into her present business unit in 2010 from another part of the site. Previously she had paid business rates to the Council but was not eligible to do so at the new address. In 2020 other businesses received letters from the Council advising them of the availability of small business grants under the Government’s assistance scheme due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She did not receive anything and wrote to the Council.
5. She says she received no responses from the Council until it was too late to apply for the scheme. The Council says it emailed her in April, May and July and explained that the unit she occupies was listed as empty by the landlord. She has not been on the business rates list for over a decade and so did not receive any correspondence about rates grants. Ms X says she did not receive the emails.
6. The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for maintaining the business rates list and the Council is the billing authority which collects the rates from liable businesses. If Ms X’s business was not listed as being liable for rates and the landlord was accepting liability for an empty unit, then the Council could not be expected to give advice to a business it was unaware of. Ms X could have pursued her enquiries further in 2020 if she did not receive the emailed replies and details of the grants scheme were available on the Council’s website in 2020.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman