Summary: Mr B complains that the Council has not dealt with his Council Tax properly, because it hasn’t given him a single person discount, didn’t take account of difficulties he faces in paying his Council Tax, didn’t give him notice about attachment of earnings orders and didn’t respond fully to his complaint. There was no fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council has not dealt with his Council Tax properly. Mr B is unhappy that the Council has not:
• been clear whether it has granted him the single person discount.
• taken account of difficulties he faces in paying his Council Tax.
• given him any notice before serving attachment of earnings orders.
• given him a clear explanation of the Council Tax he owes and how he should pay it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have spoken to Mr B about his complaint and considered the information he has provided to the Ombudsman. I have also considered the Council’s response to his complaint and its response to my enquiries.
4. Mr B and the Council have the opportunity to comment on this draft decision.

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What I found

5. The Local Government Finance Act 1992 gives local authorities the power to levy and collect a dwelling tax. This is known as ‘Council Tax’. The main legislation concerned with the collection and recovery of Council Tax is the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (as amended).
6. Before a council can pursue someone for council tax it must send a demand. If a taxpayer misses a payment, a council must issue at least one reminder notice before issuing a summons for a liability order in the magistrates’ court. They can then seek to recover payment of the sum in the Liability Order by various means.
7. A liability order gives a council legal powers to take enforcement action to collect the money owed. The council can add the costs of obtaining the order to the person’s debt.
8. When the Council has a liability order it can only use one recovery method at any one time. The council can send out a request for information which the debtor must return.
9. One method of recovery is through an Attachment of Earnings (AOE) order. Councils can serve an AOE order on a debtor’s employer. The employer is then required to make regular deductions from the debtor’s wage until the sum on the liability order is reached.
10. Councils can enforce two AEO orders on a person at any one time. Deductions are a fixed percentage of the person’s wages and are set out in The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 SI 295 Schedule 5).
11. There is no definition of ‘vulnerable’ in the law or Government guidance. The law and guidance does not say debts may not be recovered from vulnerable debtors, but that such cases once identified should be handled with care.

Cheshire East Recovery Guidance – Council Tax

12. The Council has several options for post liability order recovery action that should be looked at when considering what action is appropriate. The options are set out in order of priority and include AOE orders, enforcement agents, charging orders and bankruptcy.
13. Officers should use their own discretion and have regard to the history of a customer’s account and how it has previously been conducted when making decisions.

Cheshire East – Complaints Policy

14. The Investigating Officer will carry out the initial investigation into the complaint, seeking to establish all the facts surrounding the complaint and responding to the customer with their findings within 10 working days of the initial contact.

What happened

15. In March 2017 Mr and Mrs B both moved to their current property.
16. They did not pay Council Tax and the Council sent them a reminder letter. They still did not pay Council Tax so the Council issued a summons and obtained a liability order. The Council sent a new bill and Mr and Mrs B made payments from August to November 2017.
17. Due to medical problems and the state of the property Mrs B moved out in November 2017.
18. Mr B did not make a payment in December 2017. He contacted the Council and it agreed to recalculate Mr B’s payment arrangements. The Council sent Mr B an arrangement reminder in January 2018.
19. Mr B made two small payments in February and March. At the end of 2017/18 Mr B was in arrears with his Council Tax. The Council sent three separate bills to Mr B in March and April 2018 covering his 2017/18 arrears and new charges for 2018/19.
20. In July 2018 Mr B applied online for single person discount (SPD) from 01 November 2017. The Council refused his application because it had received correspondence from Mr and Mrs B about their property, with no mention of Mrs B having left.
21. The Council corresponded with Mr B about his situation and decided to grant him the SPD from 01 November 2017. The Council sent Mr B a new bill.
22. The Council then changed its mind the next day and contacted Mr B to tell him it had removed his SPD. It said this was because Mrs B had spoken to the Council about previous arrears at their property. The Council sent Mr B another new bill.
23. Shortly afterwards, the Council inspected Mr B’s home and decided it was satisfied Mr B was living there alone. The Council asked Mr B to tell it where Mrs B was currently living. Mr B did not provide this information to the Council.
24. In August 2018, Mr B complained about the Council’s refusal to give him the SPD. The Council replied to Mr B saying it would not process his SPD until he provided information about where Mrs B was currently living.
25. Mr B emailed the Council asking to appeal his Council Tax bill. A week later, having not received a response, he asked for his email to be acknowledged and for his complaint to be escalated to stage two.
26. The Council responded the same day telling Mr B that it had awarded him the SPD from his original application date of 01 November 2017. He had not provided information about where Mrs B was living. The Council reset Mr B’s payment arrangements for both his 2017/18 arrears and 2018/19 charges.
27. In late August 2018, the Council sent a revised payment arrangement notice for his 2017/18 arrears and a new bill for the 2018/19 charges to Mr B. Mr B did not make the first payments towards either of these in early October.
28. The Council sent Mr B a reminder because he had missed the first payment due on the new bill. In November, the Council issued Mr B a summons and obtained a liability order for his 2018/19 Council Tax.
29. The Council served two AEO’s on Mr B’s employer concerning his 2017/18 arrears and his 2018/19 charges.
30. Mrs B previously complained to us in 2016 about the Council’s enforcement action to recover outstanding council tax. We found Mr and Mrs B were jointly liable for the arrears on a council tax account. The Council had accepted Mrs B was vulnerable but not her husband.

Mr B’s complaint

31. On 20 November 2018, Mr B complained to the Council about the AOE order. Mr B asked the Council to explain what amounts would be deducted and when they would be taken. He also asked whether the SPD had been included. Mr B asked the Council to explain the monthly payments he needed to make as he was stressed and confused.
32. Mr B sent another email to the Council on 22 November. The Council replied saying his emails had been received and were being dealt with as a complaint.
33. On 28 November 2018, the Council finalised its response to Mr B’s complaint, with an explanation of his Council Tax bill history, his SPD application and the two AOE orders. The Council sent the response to Mr B on 11 December 2018.
34. Mr B contacted the Council saying he had not received a reply to his complaint. Mr B again asked the Council to explain and clarify his Council Tax payments, the SPD and the AOE order. The Council resent its response, but Mr B said he could not access it. Mr B again asked for information about the payments he needed to make.
35. Mr B and the Council exchanged emails through December and early January. The Council sent Mr B information in an encrypted format that he said he could not read. The Council sent the information to Mr B again unencrypted, and he was able to read this. In February 2019, the Council sent Mr B a final response including a copy of its complaint response from November as well as other relevant documents.

Analysis

Single person discount

36. The Council acted properly in asking for evidence to prove Mr B’s entitlement to SPD. There was uncertainty about Mrs B’s living arrangements because she had contacted the Council about other Council Tax debts, during the time period Mr B had applied for the SPD.
37. The Council was unclear about where Mrs B lived, because she contacted the Council about previous arrears at the same address during the time period Mr B had applied for the SPD.
38. The Council accepted Mr B was living alone after inspecting his home. It granted Mr B the SPD from his application date of 01 November 2017. The SPD was referred to on the bills and in complaint responses the Council sent to Mr B.

Mr B’s difficulties paying Council Tax

39. The Council said that he was liable for the full amount, because he lived there alone. It did not consider any vulnerability relating to Mrs B because it accepted she did not live there.
40. Mr B contacted the Council on several occasions giving an overview of problems affecting his circumstances. I have not seen any evidence Mr B provided detailed proof of his financial difficulties to the Council.
41. The Council was aware of Mr B’s situation because it was dealing with existing significant Council Tax arrears. The Council signposted Mr B to other agencies that could help him with debt problems.
42. Mr B has not disputed the Council Tax he is liable for and says he should have applied for assistance with his Council Tax payments when his income dropped.
43. Evidence shows the Council gave Mr B the opportunity to pay by setting out payment plans. It was only when Mr B did not make these payments that the Council took more formal action to collect Mr B’s Council Tax.

Recovery of Mr B’s Council Tax arrears

44. Mr B fell into arrears in 2017/18. The Council followed the correct procedure by sending a reminder notice, then issuing a summons and obtaining a liability order.
45. Mr B was also in further arrears at the end of 2017/18 which were not covered by the liability order. The Council sought to recover this amount by sending Mr B a separate bill for this in March 2018, alongside a separate bill for his 2018/19 Council Tax charges.
46. The Council gave Mr B the opportunity to pay the outstanding amount through a payment arrangement between June 2017 and November 2018.
47. The arrangement reminder sent to Mr B on 29 August 2018 said that if payments were not made the Council may apply for an AOE order to take money directly from his wages.
48. The Council has provided a summary of Mr B’s Council Tax account which shows the payments Mr B says he made. It makes clear that the Council granted the SPD to Mr B and shows the amounts on the documents the Council sent to Mr B were accurate.
49. Mr B fell into arrears in 2018/19. The Council followed the correct procedure by sending a reminder notice, then issuing a summons and obtaining a liability order. The Council gave Mr B the opportunity to pay the outstanding amount through a payment arrangement.
50. The Council followed its Council Tax recovery guidance when it decided to serve AOE orders to recover Mr B’s Council Tax arrears.

The Council’s explanation to Mr B

51. The Council sent Mr B a new bill on 29 August 2018 which was clear and accurate. It showed the amount he owed and confirmed he had been granted the SPD as well as identifying clear payment instalments and when they were due. It also showed that part of the outstanding balance, covered by the liability order obtained in June 2017, was subject to legal proceedings.
52. I have not been able to consider the actual reminder letter the Council sent to Mr B about his 2018/19 liability or the payment arrangement notice sent to Mr B about the 2017/18 arrears because the Council says it does not retain copies of such letters. I have seen the template letters the Council said it sent. On the balance of probabilities, I consider the Council did make those payment arrangements clear to Mr B.
53. The Council sent Mr B a summons on 2 November 2018 about his Council Tax in 2018/19. This document contained an accurate total figure of Mr B’s Council Tax liability and identified clear payment instalments and when they were due.
54. I am satisfied that the information the Council already sent to Mr B before he complained was sufficiently detailed and clear about the SPD, the amounts Mr B owed, and the payments he needed to make.

The Council’s response to Mr B’s complaint

55. The Council’s response to Mr B’s complaint was dated 28 November 2018 and explained:
• the background and circumstances of his Council Tax billing history in detail.
• the Council had granted Mr B the SPD from 01 November 2017.
• that two AOE orders had been served, in respect of both the 2017/18 arrears and his 2018/19 charges.
56. The Council says it sent this response to Mr B by both post and email.
57. On the 5th December Mr B contacted the Council again asking it to confirm that it was dealing with his complaint. I am satisfied that Mr B would not have contacted the Council in this way if he had already received the response to his complaint.
58. The Council completed its investigation into Mr B’s complaint within ten working days. The email containing the Council’s response was sent to Mr B five working days outside the timeframe set out in the Council’s complaints policy.
59. Mr B says he did not receive the response in a form that he could access until early January. Given the nature of the information, I am satisfied that the secure form of communication initially used by the Council was proportionate. When Mr B said he could not access the information it was then sent to him in a different way.
60. Mr B did not need to make any further payments himself because the Council had served AOE orders covering 2017/18 and 2018/19, and the amounts would therefore be collected automatically.
61. The amounts deducted are dependent on the debtor’s net earnings and can therefore change. It was not possible for the Council to tell Mr B the specific amounts that would be deducted due to the AOE order.

Was the Council at fault?

62. The Council was not at fault in the way it dealt with Mr B’s complaint about his Council Tax.

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Final decision

63. The Council was not at fault in the way it dealt with Mr B’s Council Tax. I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman