Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to remove single person discount from Ms X’s council tax account as Ms X could have appealed this decision to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has wrongfully removed single person discount from her council tax account. Ms X says she is now struggling to pay her council tax and considers the Council’s actions amount to discrimination and racism.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Valuation Tribunal (VT) is the independent body that deals with appeals about council tax liability. Ms X had the right to appeal to it about the Council’s decision to remove the discount from her account. We are not another appeal body and cannot determine if Ms X is entitled to the discount or not. It is reasonable therefore to expect Ms X to have appealed and as such, we will not investigate.
7. While I recognise Ms X feels the Council’s decision is unjust, she has not provided to us evidence that would support her claim that it was racist or discriminatory.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she had the right to appeal the council tax decision to the VT and it is reasonable to expect her to have done so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman