Summary: Mr B complains about the Council taking enforcement action against him for council tax arrears. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because past events fall outside our jurisdiction and there is no evidence of fault in the more recent action the Council has taken.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, says the Council should not have taken enforcement action against him for council tax arrears when he was making the required payments. As a result of its actions he has had enforcement costs added to his debt.

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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. 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
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. In considering the complaint I spoke to Mr B and reviewed the information he and the Council provided.

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What I found

5. In 2018 the Council issued a summons and obtained a liability order against Mr B for outstanding council tax arrears. Mr B says prior to this he made a payment arrangement with the Council to clear the debt. He made the required monthly payments but an amount of £68 was left outstanding.
6. Mr B moved home and his new tenancy started on 28 February 2019.
7. The Council wrote to Mr B to advise him of the £68 outstanding for his previous property and an amount of £192 outstanding for the new property for the period between 28 February 2019 and 31 March 2019.
8. Mr B kept up to date with the payments due at the new property for the new council tax year starting in April 2019.
9. In May 2019 Mr B wrote to the Council to complain he was receiving letters threatening court action when he was making the required payments for the current year’s council tax from April 2019.
10. The Council responded in June. It acknowledged he was paying the current year’s liability but explained there remained outstanding the £68 from the old property and the payment due at the current property of £192 for the period prior to the current council tax year.
11. Mr B complained again and the Council responded, referring him to its previous letter and setting out again the payments due.
12. In November the Council wrote to Mr B to warn that unless he paid the outstanding amount due it would pass the debt on to its enforcement agents for collection. Mr B has now set up a payment arrangement with the Council to clear his outstanding debt.

Assessment

13. Mr B says the Council took enforcement action against him in 2018 even though he had made a payment arrangement to clear the debt. This issue falls outside our jurisdiction because the restriction highlighted at paragraph 2 applies to it. Mr B knew of these matters in 2018 and it is too late for us to investigate them and there are no grounds which warrant exercising discretion to do so now.
14. With regard to the more recent action taken by the Council following Mr B’s move to his current property, it is unfortunate he did not realise he had a liability for the new property prior to the start of the 2019/2020 council tax year. However, I have seen no evidence to suggest there was fault in the way the Council dealt with this matter.

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Final decision

15. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because past events fall outside our jurisdiction and there is no evidence of fault in the more recent action the Council has taken.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman