Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a council tax refund. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and we could not add to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council delayed processing a council tax refund and sent the money to the wrong account. As a result, he did not receive the funds and had to contact multiple banks to trace it. He said the Council further refused to add a tracker to the transaction, as was proposed to Mr X by one of his banks saying this is not something it would do.
2. Mr X says this situation has caused him avoidable distress and wasted time. He wants the Council to either reissue the payment to a new account or assist him in locating the missing funds by adding a tracker.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

(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 and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In February 2024, Mr X vacated his property, entitling him to a council tax refund. He contacted the Council that same month to request the refund. Two months later, the Council processed the refund, returning the money to the original account from which the payment had been made. It informed Mr X it had made the refund.
7. When Mr X did not receive the funds, he contacted the Council again, requesting the refund be sent to a different account. By that time, the Council had already completed the refund. While it apologised it had not made the refund promptly, it reiterated the payment had been made to the original account, in accordance with its working practises.
8. Following Mr X’s formal complaint in June 2024, the Council reviewed the transaction with its Finance and IT teams. They confirmed the payment was successfully processed and had not been returned by the bank. As a result, the Council advised Mr X to contact his bank to trace the money. Therefore, we will not investigate Mr X’s complaint, as there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and we could not add to the previous investigation by the Council.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and we could not add to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman