Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to explain her council tax charges, respond to her e-mails for a payment agreement and added unfair recovery costs to her bill. We have not found evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant whom I shall refer to as Ms X complains that the Council did not explain her council tax charges and failed to respond to her e-mail requests to set up a payment arrangement.
2. Ms X says the Council took enforcement action to recover the outstanding amount which increased the overall debt and caused her psychological distress.
3. Ms X wants the council to remove the additional recovery charges as she is willing to pay the amount in the original bill.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X moved into a new property in September 2020 and received a higher than anticipated council tax bill. She twice queried the Council’s calculation of her monthly instalments, and it explained the statement and costs.
8. Ms X says she subsequently sent multiple e-mails about setting up a payment arrangement and further clarification. She says the Council took longer than its 10 working days response policy to reply to each of her e-mails. She believes the Council’s delays were the cause of it taking court recovery action leading to additional costs.
9. The Council investigated and confirmed it had responded to Ms X’s various queries. It provided Ms X with evidence of contact and a full explanation for the charges. It stated that multiple e-mails about the same issue were grouped together in replies as the department was extremely busy during this period. It also noted that some Council responses may have been delivered to Ms X’s junk folder.
10. In addition, the Council noted that that Ms X was in contact with it leading up to the court summons being issued but failed to make any form of payment. The Council is entitled to take appropriate recovery action where payment is not made despite reminders and did so in Ms X’s case. The additional costs were ordered as part of the liability order, and there is no reason for the Council to set them aside.

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Final decision

11. My final decision is that I will not investigate this complaint. I have not seen evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman