Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of a charity that the Council removed charitable business rate relief in 2021. Mr X said this caused a strain on the charity’s operation. We have discontinued our investigation into this complaint. This is because the complaint is late, and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, complained on behalf of a charity that the Council removed charitable business rate relief. Mr X said this caused a strain on the charity’s operation. He said the charity has had to move premises due to the issue not being resolved.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. Mr X is the charity’s trustee. I consider he is a suitable person to make this complaint.
6. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments and further information received before I reached a final decision.

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What I have and have not investigated

7. As I have said above, the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints that are more than 12 months after the complainant first had knowledge of the problem, unless there are good reasons to do so.
8. In this case, Mr X complained about a decision the Council made in February 2021 to remove charitable business rate relief from the charity. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman about this in November 2021. The Ombudsman told Mr X we could not consider it yet, and that he needed to make a formal complaint to the Council first.
9. In January 2023, Mr X complained to us again. At that time, the Council said it had no record of a formal complaint from Mr X about this issue. It provided a stage one response to Mr X’s complaint in February 2023.
10. In September, Mr X’s solicitor asked the Council to consider the complaint at stage two. The Council provided a stage two response in October. Mr X then brought his complaint back to the Ombudsman in December.
11. Mr X’s solicitor told the Ombudsman that Mr X/the charity had “engaged in continuous communication with the council, urging them to complete the complaint stages” between November 2021 and January 2023. I have seen no evidence to support this.
12. In support of this, Mr X provided copies of emails between him/the charity and the Council between November 2021 and June 2022. These emails show the charity/Mr X challenging the reason the Council decided not to award charitable business rate relief. These emails do not show Mr X or the charity making a formal complaint to the Council, nor urging the Council to complete the complaints procedure.
13. Further to this, these emails show that Mr X told the Council in December 2021 that he will raise a formal complaint if he does not hear back from the Council about his challenge to the Council’s decision. Then, in April 2022, Mr X told the Council he was “considering escalating a complaint”. But there is no evidence that Mr X or the charity actually made a complaint.
14. Overall, I consider that reasonable opportunities existed for Mr X to have pursued this matter in a more timely fashion, and within the time limits laid down in law. For this reason, I find there are no good reasons to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

15. I have discontinued this investigation. This complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because it is late, and I find no good reason to exercise our discretion and investigate.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman