Summary: The complainant, Mrs X, says the Council is at fault for issuing her with a summons for council tax arrears. The Ombudsman has not found any evidence of fault by the Council regarding its decision to take recovery action. He also considers the Council’s offer to remove recovery costs addresses the alleged fault with its payment systems. For this reason, he has ended his consideration of this complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mrs X, says the Council is at fault for issuing her with a summons for non-payment of council tax. She says she:

• made a payment in June 2018 which its payment systems failed to take; and
• kept to a repayment agreement that was arranged after her account fell into arrears because of the missed June payment.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. As part of my investigation I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered information she provided. I also considered the Council’s response to our enquiries. I set out my initial thoughts on the complaint in a draft decision statement and I considered Mrs X’s comments in response.

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What I found

Relevant policy background

5. The Council’s Debt Management Policy says that when a council tax account falls into arrears a range of recovery options will be considered alongside the circumstances of the person(s) involved.
6. One of the options the Council may consider for council tax debts is a repayment plan. If the repayment plan also falls into arrears, then it will take further recovery action without further notice.

Background

7. Mrs X and her husband were paying their council tax for the financial year 2018/19 by instalments. The Council wrote to them in May 2018 because they had missed an instalment.
8. Mrs X tried to make a payment towards the arrears using the Council’s automated phone system in June. However, the Council did not receive the payment.
9. The Council advised Mr and Mrs X in July that, as payment had not been made, it had cancelled her instalment plan and the full balance of their council tax was now due.
10. Mrs X called the Council on 27 July to say that she had tried to make payment in June. The Council told her no payment had been received and so her account had been progressed for recovery. It said that it would put a hold on recovery action while Mrs X tried to trace the payment.
11. On 30 July Mrs X called the Council again confirming no payment had been taken from her account. The Council said in these circumstances it would agree a repayment plan which included the arrears and the outstanding balance for the financial year 2018/19. The plan required her to make seven payments of £120 from July 2018 to February 2019.
12. The Council confirmed the repayment arrangement in a letter to Mr and Mrs X. The letter explained that, if payments were not made it would take recovery action without further notice.
13. In October Mrs X spoke with an officer who said her council tax account was in arrears by £10 as she had paid too little in August. The officer said she should pay £130 to bring the account up to date. However, Mrs X only paid £120.
14. As Mrs X’s council tax account remained in arrears, the Council commenced recovery proceedings and issued a summons.
15. On receipt of the summons Mrs X paid £130 to the Council. However, the costs of issuing the summons had been added to Mr and Mrs X’s council tax account.
16. Unhappy with the Council’s actions, Mrs X complained. She said she had tried to make a payment in June but contended there must have been a fault with the Council’s payment systems. She said, if this payment had gone through, she would not have been subject to a repayment plan or had to pay the summons costs. For this reason, she asked for the costs to be removed.
17. The Council disagreed. It said it could find no evidence of a declined or authorised payment from Mrs X in June. It also said it could not confirm or deny if there were any operational problems with its payment systems at this time. Nevertheless, it was satisfied it had correctly followed its council tax recovery procedure.
18. Mrs X remained unhappy and approached the Ombudsman.
19. As part of our investigation we asked the Council for some information. In its reply the Council again said it had followed its procedure correctly. However, it noted Mr and Mrs X had previously kept their council tax account in good order and it was up to date. For this reason, it offered to remove the summons costs from their account as a goodwill gesture.

Analysis

20. Mrs X was aware she was in a repayment plan and any arrears would result in recovery action. This was confirmed in a letter the Council sent to her setting out the repayment plan. In October she was notified she was in arrears on her repayment plan because she had underpaid by £10 in August. Despite this, she did not pay the £10 and so, in accordance with its policy, the Council took recovery action. I do not consider the Council’s actions amount to fault.
21. Mrs X says the payment she tried to make in June was unsuccessful because of a fault with the Council’s payments systems. The Council says it cannot confirm or deny if this was the case. I cannot therefore come to a view on whether Mrs X’s June payment was not taken owing to a fault by the Council.
22. Mrs X says the summons costs were wrongly added to her account as a result of fault by the Council.
23. The Council has said it is willing to remove the summons costs as a gesture of goodwill. I consider this suitably addresses the injustice claimed by Mrs X.

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Final decision

24. I have ended my investigation of this complaint as I have not found any evidence of fault by the Council. Furthermore, the Council’s goodwill gesture to Mrs X remedies any injustice caused by the alleged fault with the Council’s payment system in June 2018.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman