Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaint handling as any injustice arising from this, in isolation, is not sufficient to justify our further action. Issues around information access are best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her complaint about its decision on her council tax liability. Ms X complains the Council will not escalate her complaint for the second time to stage 2 of its process. Ms X has various outstanding issues regarding the handling of her council tax account including failure to provide information she has requested, failure to properly take account of evidence she has provided and concerns about the use of her personal data. Ms X says she has been caused anxiety and has lost weight due to this.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection/information access rights. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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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. Ms X complained to the Council about various issues regarding its decision on her liability for council tax. Ms X is unhappy as she says the Council has refused to escalate her complaint to stage 2 of its process and this is the second time this has happened.
7. We will not investigate as while I recognise Ms X is unhappy about this, it does not cause her a level of injustice, in isolation, that would justify our further action, given our limited resources. The liability dispute is not something we can determine. The Valuation Tribunal is the independent body which is empowered to decide this.
8. In its complaint response to Ms X, the Council said it was to provide the information she had requested. If it has not done so, then this issue is best addressed via the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as it is the UK’s independent regulator in respect of information access rights. It is also best placed to deal with any outstanding concerns about how the Council used Ms X’s personal data.
9. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because any injustice caused to her is not sufficient to warrant our further action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman