Manchester City Council (26 011 543)
Category : Benefits and tax > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s request for a refund of business rates. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to refund a business rates credit. Mr X says if he had been informed the refund had been returned in 2024, and in 2025, he could have acted before the company was dissolved.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant which includes the Council’s response.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a business rates credit. He says he has been trying to obtain it since 2024. He says, had the Council informed him earlier that refund payments had been returned to it, the matter could have been resolved before the company was dissolved.
- The Council accepts it failed to inform Mr X the refund had been returned to it when it tried to send the refund in 2024 and 2025. It advises that, as the company was subsequently dissolved, the credit can only be passed to the Treasury Solicitor.
- The information shows the first failed refund occurred in April 2024 and the complainant says attempts to recover the credit had been ongoing since March 2024. The complaint therefore relates to matters that were known, or ought reasonably to have been known, more than 12 months before the complaint was brought to us in July 2026.
- We will not investigate because the complaint has been made late. There are no good reasons to investigate. Notwithstanding the Council’s admittance, it is clear Mr X has been aware of his complaint matters since 2024. It was therefore reasonable to expect him to complain earlier than he has.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman