Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her mother-in-law’s council tax account. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her mother-in-law, Mrs Z’s, council tax account. She says the Council incorrectly billed Mrs Z for several years. The Council has now corrected this and issued a revised bill, which has resulted in Mrs Z owing the Council money.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used 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. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council applied incorrect income figures for Mrs Z while completing its assessment to work out how much council tax reduction she was eligible for. This resulted in the Council assessing Mrs Z to be eligible for more council tax reduction than she was entitled to. As a result, Mrs Z paid less council tax than she should have.
6. In 2024, the Council realised its mistake and sent Mrs Z a letter which detailed the new council tax reduction figures. The Council also issued the revised council tax bills which showed the amounts that were now outstanding.
7. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault. This is because the Council has accepted it made a mistake with Mrs Z’s income figures, which led to the incorrect calculation of council tax reduction.
8. I am satisfied the fault accepted has not caused any quantifiable financial loss to Mrs Z as she is still in the same position she would have been in if the fault had not happened. This is because if the Council had not made the mistake with her income figures, it would have calculated the correct council tax reduction earlier and the correct council tax bills would have been issued. Mrs Z would then have been liable to pay the amount due. For this reason, I do not consider it is appropriate to recommend the Council waive the outstanding debt.
9. However, I am satisfied the fault has caused some injustice to Mrs Z. This is because the Council telling Mrs Z of the debt came as a shock to her and caused her distress. I am also satisfied the distress caused was likely exacerbated by Mrs Z’s poor health.
10. We therefore asked the Council to remedy this by making a symbolic financial payment of £200. In reaching this figure, I have considered the fact the distress was made worse because of Mrs Z’s poor health given she had recently suffered two strokes. I appreciate the Council had no control over the timing of when it discovered the mistake. However, the mistake should not have occurred, and Mrs Z should not have been put in the position of receiving a surprise bill. I also note the amount owed is not an insignificant amount. The Council can offset this remedy from the outstanding debt owed by Mrs Z.

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Agreed action

11. To its credit, the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint and will do the above within four weeks of the final decision statement.

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Final decision

We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman