Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the Council’s decision to require her to pay council tax through direct debit. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council which has caused the complainant an injustice to justify our involvement. The Ombudsman will also not investigate a complaint about the services the Council provides generally because there is an obligation to pay council tax as set out by law, not in exchange for services.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the Council has said she will now have to pay her council tax by direct debit. She says this means she does not have enough flexibility as she must pay by a certain date each month. Ms B has also complained that she is not happy about the services that she receives as a consumer for the council tax she must pay.

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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’. 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, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information that Ms B provided with this complaint. I also gave Ms B the opportunity to clarify what she was complaining about. I have also considered Ms B’s response to the Draft Decision.

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What I found

4. Ms B has complained that she was issued with a summons for paying her council tax late. During the court hearing Ms B was told she had to pay the remaining debt in one amount. She says she was also then told she would have to pay by direct debit for the next financial year.
5. The council responded to say it issued Ms B with a Final Notice because all her payments from April to August 2019 had been made 20 to 25 days late. This was despite five reminders the Council had sent through the post and by email. It apologised for her distress and acknowledged that Ms B had since paid all the outstanding amount that year.
6. The Council went on to assure Ms B she would be able to pay by instalments again in the new tax year due to start on 1 April 2020. It also ‘strongly urged’ Ms B to consider paying by direct debit in the future to avoid a similar situation.
7. It is clear the Council issued Ms B with a summons because of her failure to pay her instalments on time. There is not enough evidence of Council fault which has caused Ms B an injustice. The council’s website makes it clear Ms B has several ways she can use to pay her council tax instalments. But the law says she must pay them on time or risk recovery action.
8. In her comments on my original Draft Decision, Ms B has said the Council failed to sort out the queries that she had about paying flexibly. This does not amount to fault which has caused a significant injustice since the Council has made it clear that Ms B will still be able to pay in instalments in the next financial year.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council which has caused Ms B an injustice, so an investigation is not warranted.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman