Summary: Mr X complained that the Council had not dealt properly with invoices for his business. The Council has delayed providing invoices. Mr X has suffered financial loss and incurred a fine due to being unable to reconcile and file his tax return. The Council should repay Mr X £64.45 for his fine, pay Mr X £200 for uncertainty and review its processes.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council have not provided copies of invoices.
2. Mr X says he may have been overcharged for at least one month and has been unable to properly provide information to support his accounting returns, has been delayed filing his VAT return and has been charged by HMRC as a direct result.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. Our role is not to ask whether an organisation could have done things better, or whether we agree or disagree with what it did. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome.
5. 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

6. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened?

8. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
9. Mr X complained to the Council in 2023 that invoices had not been provided by the Council.
10. In December 2023 the Council accepted that there were delays and that it had not provided Mr X with some invoices. It apologised and said it had also taken action to review its processes.
11. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in 2024 complaining there were still ongoing problems, including a duplicate payment collected in February 2024.

Analysis

12. The Council says:
• All outstanding invoices have been provided to Mr X, enabling him to fully reconcile his payments. We acknowledge that these invoices were issued later than expected, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The underlying IT issues responsible for the delay have now been resolved. Additionally, we have implemented a new procedure to ensure that, should similar issues arise in the future, staff can promptly generate invoices manually to prevent further delays.
• Mr X should be able to verify that no duplicate payments have been taken. Any perceived ‘double payment’ was, in fact, due to two rental periods being charged within a single month.
13. During my investigation it became apparent the Council had still not provided a copy of one invoice to Mr X and had provided another without an invoice number. This caused Mr X difficulty in resolving his accounts.
14. I have reconciled the invoices from the Council to Mr X, along with the payments collected from him in respect of them, between September 2023 and September 2024. I have been able to attribute each invoice to a particular payment. The Council has provided a breakdown which shows the invoice numbers attributed to direct debit collections. The table showing this is attached to this decision.
15. There were no duplicate payments or overpayments taken by the Council.
16. The Council has accepted that copies of invoices were provided late to Mr X. This is fault by the Council. On the balance of probability, Mr X was frustrated from making an accurate and timely tax return due to the Council’s fault. I have seen evidence that Mr X incurred a fine as a result. This is fault by the Council. Mr X suffered financial loss and uncertainty about his financial circumstances.

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Action

17. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of this decision:
• Apologise to Mr X for the fault found. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Mr X £64.45 in respect of the fine he incurred.
• Pay Mr X £200 in respect of uncertainty.
• Review its processes to ensure there are no ongoing delays to issuing accurate invoices.
• Review its payment collection processes and consider explicitly attributing specific invoice numbers to collected sums to facilitate accurate reconciliation and accounting.
18. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

19. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman