Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 005 186)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a £50 administration charge retained by the Council in relation to a street naming/numbering application. This is because the Council agreed to refund the charge and amend the information on its website about when the charge might be applied.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council should not have retained a £50 administration charge when refunding his street naming/numbering application fee, because none of the information it provides highlights that this charge might be imposed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We can investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. We use 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. We 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)
- We may decide not to start an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or agreed to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council carried out a fair amount of work on Mr X’s application, including sending approximately ten emails to explain the information/fee he needed to submit, before he decided to withdraw it and ask for a refund.
- However, whilst the Council’s website did explain the circumstances in which an administration charge might be applied, this did not cover Mr X’s situation.
- I therefore asked the Council if it would be prepared to refund the £50 charge on this occasion, because the information available to applicants was not clear about when this charge might be incurred. I also asked the Council to update the information on its website. The Council agreed to these recommendations, but highlighted Mr X has already obtained a refund of the charge from his credit card provided instead.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council agreed to take the action we recommended to remedy the complaint, and he has already obtained a refund via a different route instead.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman