The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about ending Ms X’s council tax account in error, and complaint handling. This is because the Council has already provided a suitable remedy for the injustice.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council has not properly handled her complaint about council tax. She says there were delays and errors and it has not resolved the matter. This together with the Council’s enforcement action for arrears has caused her stress. She seeks an apology, a financial remedy and for the Council to suspend its recovery action.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complained the Council closed her council tax account in error without checking. When she realised this after four months the Council took too long to correct it.
Ms X said the Council admitted it made errors as it agreed it should have asked her if she had sold or let her home. It also accepted it could have reopened her account three weeks earlier. It offered to spread the payments over the year. However, it then delayed replying to her stage two complaint from May 2025 until August 2025, despite promising to respond earlier.
In its stage two response the Council apologised for the errors it made, but it did not agree it should write off the arrears as Ms X was liable. However, it offered £100 to Ms X for the distress caused.
I consider the Council has taken suitable action to address the complaint by apologising for the errors and offering a financial remedy.
It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not investigating the substantive issue. Therefore, we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has taken suitable action. We will not investigate the Council complaint handling.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman