Havant Borough Council (22 011 662)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax payments as the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr and Ms X complain that the Council issued a summons despite their regular payments of Council tax.
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 considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that their payments of Council tax were sent by standing order on the 10th of every month.. However, the Council says that payments have to be made by the 1st. This resulted in the issue of a summons.
- The Council has apologised for any failure to communicate with Mr X and has written off the summons and offered compensation of £50.
- Payments of Council tax have to be made by the day specified by the Council so any late standing order can lead to the threat of enforcement action. A direct debit avoids this possibility. I am satisfied that the apology and the compensation are therefore a reasonable remedy of the complaint and there are no grounds to investigate this matter further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr and Ms X’s complaint because the matter has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman