Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about an error the Council made when it took £70 from the wrong bank account. This is because the Council has provided a fair remedy and there is not enough injustice to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council wrongly took £70 from her bank account.

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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 an investigation if we believe:

• the Council has provided a fair remedy, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I got some additional information from the Council about when it refunded the money to Mrs X. I invited Mrs X to comment a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mrs X helps to run a social club. In June the Council made an error and took £70 from Mrs X’s personal bank account to pay for an annual licence for the social club. The Council should have taken the money from the club’s account.
5. Mrs X rang the Council on 23 June to complain that the Council had taken £70 from her account. The Council apologised and explained there are two accounts linked to Mrs X; one for her personal account and one for the club. The Council said it had taken the licence fee from the wrong account. The Council refunded the £70 to Mrs X on 23 June and it changed the accounts to make it clear that Mrs X is only linked to the club account as a contact.

Assessment

6. The Council made an error. It took money from Mrs X’s bank account instead of from the account for the club. I will not start an investigation because the Council has provided a fair remedy and there is not enough remaining injustice to require an investigation. The Council explained what had gone wrong, apologised, provided an immediate refund and took action to stop the error happening again. There is nothing more I would ask the Council to do.

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Final decision

7. I will not start an investigation because the Council has provided a fair remedy and there is not enough remaining injustice to require an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman