Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council mishandled her council tax account and failed to make reasonable adjustments when communicating with her. It is unlikely we would find fault and further investigation by us would not achieve a different outcome for Ms X. And in any case, we cannot achieve the outcome she wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about how the Council managed her council tax account. She said it did not help her when she tried to contact it to resolve issues with her account. She complained it did not make reasonable adjustments to how it communicated with her about her council tax account. She said this negatively impacted her wellbeing and her ability to manage council tax payments. She asked the Council to:

• apologise to her, in writing;
• provide equality and diversity training for its staff;
• forgive her council tax arrears; and
• pause communication with her about her council tax arrears.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. I considered the Equality Act 2010.

Back to top

My assessment

6. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. They must also have regard to the general duties aimed at eliminating discrimination under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
7. Ms X considers herself to have a protected characteristic and complained Council staff discriminated against her and were unhelpful when she phoned the Council to discuss her council tax account. She said this was a breach of the Equality Act.
8. The Council partially upheld Ms X’s complaint. It agreed she did not receive the expected standard of customer service during phone calls to the Council. It apologised, in writing, and told her it had provided training to the relevant staff in response to her complaint.
9. The Council also gave an overview to Ms X as to how it had calculated her arrears. It explained her payments had changed due to a change in her circumstances and advised her how she could get help to make sure her account details were correct. It said it could not clear her council tax arrears, nor could it pause communication with her about this. It said it had a duty to collect debt and send letters to her as part of this.
10. The Council also explained how it had made changes to how it communicated with her. It told her it believed this meant it had made reasonable adjustments for her.
11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s consideration of how it communicated with her previously. The Council has already apologised in writing for the service she received and said it will provide training for its staff. This is appropriate and further investigation by us would not achieve anything more.
12. Nor will we investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council managed her council tax account. The Council explained to Ms X how her arrears were calculated and said it sent her letters to confirm any changes to her payments. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.
13. Additionally, we cannot tell the Council to clear Ms X’s debt or to stop sending her letters about this and so we cannot achieve the outcomes she wants.
14. Finally, we cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them. There is not enough evidence the Council failed to take account of Ms X’s rights under the Equality Act to warrant investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and an investigation by us could not achieve a different outcome. In any case, we could not achieve the outcome she wants.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman