Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax arrears because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council failed to apply the single person discount to his council tax and then passed the debt to bailiffs. Mr X wants the Council to issue a correct bill, recall the debt from the bailiffs and remove all the charges.

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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 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

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Council tax

4. The law says people must pay their council tax as billed. If they do not pay the Council can serve a summons and ask the magistrates for a liability order. A liability order is a court order confirming the person must pay the council tax and costs. If someone does not pay the council tax, and the costs, the Council can ask bailiffs to collect the debt. Bailiffs charge fees.

What happened

5. Mr X became liable for council tax in August 2019. He says he applied for the single person discount in August. The Council says it did not receive an application in August.
6. The Council issued a council tax bill in August. Mr X did not pay the instalment due on 1 September because he had not been given the discount. The Council issued a reminder on 1 October and said it would issue a summons if Mr X did not pay the arrears within seven days. Mr X did not pay any council tax within seven days so the Council issued a summons on 23 October and charged costs. Mr X called the Council on 30 October. He applied for the discount and made a payment arrangement.
7. The Council awarded the discount from August and issued a new bill on 5 November. Mr X says he did not get the new bill and did not see a bill showing the discount until February. The payment arrangement was adjusted to take into account the discount. Mr X should have made payments in December and January but did not do so. In January Mr X offered to make a large payment but did not pay anything.
8. The Council passed the debt to bailiffs in January. Mr X did not make a payment arrangement with the bailiffs. He has incurred fees.
9. The Council issued a new bill in March for 2020/21. The bill showed the discount. Mr X did not make any payments until he set up a direct debit in August. Mr X still owes money to the bailiffs for the last financial year.

Assessment

10. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council has no record of receiving a discount application from Mr X in August. But, even if it had, Mr X was still required to pay the council tax pending the award of the discount and, in any case, he knew he had to pay 75% of the council tax. However, he made no payments. The Council awarded the discount as soon as it received the application in October. It also made a payment plan. If Mr X had maintained the payment plan the case would not have been referred to bailiffs. Mr X says he was unaware the discount had been awarded but he could still have kept to the payment plan or he could have contacted the Council to check on the progress of the application.
11. It is unfortunate Mr X has incurred substantial bailiff fees but there is no suggestion of fault in the Council’s decision to use bailiffs and bailiff action includes fees. As there is no suggestion of fault by the Council I cannot ask it to recall the debt or cancel the charges. And, it has already awarded the discount and issued correct bills.

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Final decision

12. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman