Summary: Mr X complained that the Council delayed in renewing his taxi licence. We found the Council was at fault. In recognition of the injustice caused the Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council delayed in renewing his taxi licence which prevented him from working for a week causing financial loss and anxiety.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information provided by Mr X including the Council’s responses to his complaint.
5. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Key facts

6. Mr X applied for a renewal of his taxi licence online on 10 August 2023.
7. Mr X says he telephoned the licensing team on 15 August to confirm the application had been received. He was told the application had been received together with his medical report form. Only one document was missing which he sent and received an acknowledgement.
8. Mr X says he telephoned the licensing department on 2 September for an update and was told they had a backlog and he would have to wait four to six weeks for his new licence to be issued.
9. Mr X says that, on 11 September, he received an email from the licensing team saying that only two pages of his medical form had been received and he needed to resubmit it.
10. On 14 September Mr X’s existing licence expired so he was unable to work.
11. On 17 September Mr X complained about the delay and requested compensation for loss of earnings.
12. The Council issued the new licence on 19 September.
13. On 6 October the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint. It said its website advises that it takes at least 10 working days for applications to be processed and that applications can be submitted six weeks before expiry. It accepted it had taken longer than normal to process Mr X’s application and explained it had a backlog of work which had resulted in longer than usual processing times. It said it had several vacant posts and was advertising for five licensing officer roles and, once these posts were filled, it should be able to process applications more quickly. The Council apologised to Mr X but said it was unable to provide compensation as the licence was issued within six weeks.

Analysis

14. There is no statutory time limit for processing licence applications. But we would expect the Council to do so in a timely manner as a matter of good administrative practice. We consider a council should generally be able to deal with a fully completed straightforward application within six weeks of receipt.
15. The Council’s website states that applications take at least 10 working days to be processed. It states that drivers can apply six weeks before their licence expires. However, it does not explain that it can take up to six weeks to process an application. Mr X applied five weeks before his licence expired so he could reasonably have expected it to have been renewed before it expired based on the information available on the Council’s website.
16. I consider the Council was at fault in failing to include information on its website to inform applicants that there were delays in processing applications and advise them to submit applications sooner.
17. The Council has explained that it is not possible to accept applications for licence renewals more than six weeks in advance because some of the required checks may be out of date if provided too far in advance of the issue date and so may need to be resubmitted. It says there was an unusually large backlog at the time of Mr X’s application which has now significantly reduced. However, it has confirmed that, if the time to process applications rises above four weeks in future, it will actively amend its website to reflect actual processing times. So, applicants will be aware of the current situation when applying for a renewal of their licence.
18. The delay in renewing Mr X’s application caused him injustice. He suffered uncertainty, frustration and anxiety and was put to the time and trouble of telephoning the Council to chase up the renewal.
19. Mr X wants compensation for loss of earnings. However, we do not normally recommend remedies that reimburse loss of earnings. This is because we are unlikely to be able to reach conclusive findings on such matters through our investigations. We cannot usually establish a clear and causal link between the fault and the claimed injustice of lost earnings. There are frequently other factors, personal circumstances and choices involved. Such payments are therefore best resolved by the courts.

The Council’s complaints process

20. The Council responded to Mr X’s stage 1 complaint within its published timescales. However, there was a delay in responding to his complaint at stage 2. Mr X submitted his stage 2 complaint on 6 November. The Council did not respond until 12 December 2023. This was outside its published timescale of 20 working days. This was fault but I do not consider it caused Mr X an injustice.

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Agreed action

21. The Council has agreed that, within one month of the Ombudsman’s final decision, it will pay Mr X £150 in recognition of the injustice caused by the delay in processing his application.
22. The Council has also agreed that, within two months of the final decision, it will update its website to advise applicants that it may take four weeks to process an application and that applications can be accepted up to six weeks in advance.
23. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

24. I find fault causing injustice.
25. I have completed my investigation on the basis that the Council has agreed to implement the recommended remedy.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman