Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about bailiff action in 2016. This is because it is a late complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision not to re-open a complaint from 2016. Ms X says the Council failed to treat her as a vulnerable adult in 2016 and should not have instructed bailiffs regarding council tax arrears.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence from 2016. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

5. In 2016 Ms X, and her son, complained to the Council and to the bailiffs about a bailiff visit in 2016. Neither the bailiffs nor the Council upheld the complaint but the Council invited Ms X to escalate the complaint to stage two. Ms X received both replies within 12 days of making the complaints. Ms X did not escalate the complaint in 2016.
6. Ms X contacted the Council in 2017 about a council tax payment.
7. In 2021 Ms X asked the Council to re-open the 2016 complaint. She referred to herself as being a vulnerable adult. Following a discussion with Ms X’s son, in 2021, the Council noted on Ms X’s account that she is vulnerable. The Council says this was the first time vulnerability was raised. The Council declined to re-open the complaint on time grounds.
8. Ms X wants the events in 2016 to be investigated and says the Council should have treated her as a vulnerable person in 2016. Ms X says she could not escalate her complaint before 2021 because she is vulnerable and because she and her son were so traumatised by what happened in 2016.
9. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. I appreciate Ms X has been unwell, has had some difficult life events, and felt traumatised by what happened. But, as she and her son were able to submit complaints in 2016 it is hard to see why they could not have escalated the complaint in 2016, especially as they received the replies within two weeks of making the complaint. Ms X could have sought support in escalating the complaint from family or from an advice agency. But Ms X did not contact the Council, or us, about the complaint until 2021, five years after the incident.
10. In addition, Ms X did not raise vulnerability in 2016 and the Council says the family did not raise vulnerability as an issue until 2021.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint because it is a late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman