London Borough of Hounslow (22 017 814)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about payments of Council tax as the matter was remedied.
The complaint
- Ms X says that the Council failed to provide a working system to enable her to receive notifications about her Council tax bill.
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)
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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
- Ms X has two properties for which she liable for Council tax. She says that the Council failed to send her correspondence about her bills and need for payments for one of the properties.
- Ms X says that she has not received postal letters about her Council tax for one of her properties from the Council for two years. She says that she tried to complete an online account for the property but the website was poorly set out.
- The Council says that they emailed her in July 2021 setting out her liabilities and payment schedule which they say Ms X acknowledged. Nevertheless, the Council waived the costs associated with the enforcement of that debt at that point because of any confusion. I consider that to be a satisfactory remedy to that part of the complaint.
- Ms X accepts that she made an error in her payments after that and the Council issued a summons as arrears had arisen by January 2022.
- I appreciate that Ms X found the payments to be confusing if she did not receive all the correct billing. However, the failure to receive the information would not be the fault if the Council if the letters were not delivered. Further, Ms X was provided the information necessary to make any outstanding payments of Council tax by email and so any arrears after that are not fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman