The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council delayed in crediting his council tax account or refunding him with £77.95 which he had overpaid in 2015. There is insufficient injustice. Mr X complains late about the general handling of his council tax account at a previous address in 2015.
The complaint
Mr X complains that earlier this year the Council revealed that it owed him £77.95 which he had paid as council tax on a flat he occupied in 2015. Mr X says the Council in 2015 threatened to take him to court for not paying council tax. He says the issue was resolved at the time. Mr X says the Council could have refunded the £77.95 at any time in the last 7 years. He says the Council has failed to properly explain what went wrong or apologise. He wants the Council to do so and pay compensation for his time and trouble.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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 Mr X’s information and comments. The information includes correspondence with the Council.
My assessment
I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons: The Ombudsman investigates fault causing injustice. There is insufficient injustice to investigate the delay in refunding or putting a credit on the council tax account for £77.95. The Council has transferred the credit to the current council tax account, explained what happened (23 August communication), and explained the refund option. The Council has not caused Mr X significant time and trouble this year.
The handling of the council tax account on an address Mr X lived at in 2015 is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because Mr X complains late and outside the 12-month permitted period (see paragraphs 3 and 4 above). This includes those events Mr X knew about such as the threat of court action. Mr X could have complained about that sooner.
I do not consider it a good use of limited public resources to investigate this complaint. I note the Council says it wrote to Mr X in 2015 giving him the option of a refund or credit on another account number. Mr X says he did not get that communication and the Council is at fault for not taking further action when he did not reply. Mr X also says he moved to a new address some years ago.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council delayed in crediting his council tax account or refunding him with £77.95 which he had overpaid in 2015. There is insufficient injustice. Mr X complains late about the general handling of his council tax account at a previous address in 2015.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman