IRRV Alert - week ending 26th August 2022
Information Letters
News
Consultations
New benefits and taxation decisions
|
|
A weekly update on benefits and taxation decisions |
|
Please note: our decisions are published six weeks after they are issued to councils, care providers and the person who has made the complaint. The cases below reflect the caselaw and guidance available at the time of issue and the individual circumstances of each case. Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (22 004 563)
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s council tax reduction policy as its provisions can only be challenged by judicial review. Miss X can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal in respect of the Council’s decision on council tax liability and the amount it has awarded her in terms of discretionary relief. Birmingham City Council (21 014 172)
Summary: Miss D complained how the Council handled her council tax account. She says the Council continued to apply a student exemption to her account, even though she provided it with evidence of when her course was ending. We find the Council was at fault for failing to pick up on the end date of Miss D’s course. It also was at fault for how it dealt with her complaint. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault. Slough Borough Council (22 003 287)
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to award a council tax energy rebate in a woman’s case. This is because we could not add substantively to the Council’s own response regarding this matter or achieve a different outcome. Slough Borough Council (22 003 888)
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about applications of council tax support. This is because the Council has now considered the applications and recalculated the support so further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. London Borough of Merton (21 017 646)
Summary: Mr Y complains about the Council’s enforcement of historic council tax debts, which he was not liable for. He also complains about the Council’s decisions about council tax liability. We uphold the complaint, because the Council did enforce against the wrong person and did not act on communications from Mr Y about this. We have not investigated the council tax liability. That is because Mr Y can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal about these issues.
|
