Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council collected council tax from her and how it dealt with her complaint about legal proceedings. The complaint concerns matters which have been to Court, which means we cannot investigate it.

The complaint

1. The Complainant, who I shall refer to as Ms S, says the Council:

• did not provide legal documentation to enable it to collect council tax from her; and
• refused to investigate a complaint that the judge who ruled in her case did not have authority to do so.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. 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.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Ms S to comment on the draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

6. Ms S says the Council did not provide legal paperwork to her to enable it to collect council tax. Specifically, it failed to provide a physical copy of the liability notice.
7. The Council said it did not have to provide such copies and the matter had been through a fair process in the Courts.
8. Ms S was taken to court for council tax arrears and a bankruptcy order was made against her.
9. We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council requested council tax from Ms S. The matter has been to Court which means the law does not allow us to investigate.
10. Ms S also complains the Council refused to investigate her complaint that the judge who decided her case did not have authority to do so.
11. The Council said it could not investigate a judge’s authority, as the complaint is not covered by its complaint procedure.
12. Neither the Council nor the Ombudsman can question the actions of a judge. There is therefore no evidence of fault in the way the Council has responded to this aspect of the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the law does not allow us to investigate matters that have been to court, and there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council responded to Ms S’s complaint about the judge.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman