Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council has dealt with his council tax support claims. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because he had a right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal and there is no evidence of fault by the Council. Further, part of the complaint is out of time.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council has dealt with his council tax support claims.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

7. Mr X complains about the way his council tax claim was dealt with by the Council from March 2017 onwards. Mr X was unable to pay his council tax in full and on time and so a Liability Order was obtained by the Council in March 2018. The events prior to the Liability Order are out of time for the reason given above (and I see no reason why the complaint could not have been made to us in time).
8. Since the Liability Order, Mr X told the Council he was to claim Universal Credit and council tax support. The enforcement of the Order was put on hold by the Council till the end of April 2018.
9. Mr X moved house in May 2018. The Council says that no payment was made towards his council tax between December 2017 and September 2018. The Council says that Mr X failed to tell them of his change of address although council tax support was awarded up to the date he moved. Mr X sought backdating of his council tax support to June 2017. The Council reviewed this but did not alter the decision. The Council says that Mr X did not pursue his appeal further to a Valuation Tribunal.
10. The Council says that it assessed his ability to pay by an income and expenditure form and concluded that Mr X had the ability to pay the council tax arrears. It concluded that the use of bailiffs was reasonable in the circumstances.
11. I am satisfied from the evidence that Mr X’s payments have been taken into account and that he had the right to appeal against any council tax decisions to a Valuation Tribunal. The Council is entitled to use bailiffs to enforce arrears and there was no obligation to suspend such action because a benefit claim was in process. Mr X had a legal duty to pay council tax and I am not persuaded that there is fault by the Council in the way it enforced that tax.
12. Mr X says that an officer was rude to him (which the Council denies) but, I cannot reach any satisfactory conclusion as to this allegation as I was not present at the incident.

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Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and there was a right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal. Part of the complaint is out of time.
     

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman