Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s attachment of earnings to Ms X’s salary to recover council tax arrears. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council recovering council tax arrears from her earnings following her divorce from her former partner. She questioned if the liability orders were still valid and why the Council had not pursued her former partner through an attachment to his benefits.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Ms X says the Council obtained an attachment of earnings from her employer to recover unpaid council tax which she owed from her previous joint account with her former partner. She says she has financial difficulties following her divorce and the Council should have pursued her former partner for some or all of the arrears by seeking an attachment of his benefits.
7. The Council told her that the liability orders remain in force from 2019 and 2020 and that although she had a previous payment arrangement, this had broken down and it was necessary to recover the debt by seeking direct recovery from earnings. The legislation (The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992) gives a council authority to seek recovery from account holders who are jointly and severally liable.
8. The liability orders were against both parties and the Council says that her former partner was not in employment so it pursued an attachment of earnings against her which it is entitled to do. Any attachment of benefits requires approval of the Department for Work and Pensions for a limited deduction.
9. The Ombudsman may not question the merits of decisions which have been made in a proper manner. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions. In this case the Council followed the correct procedure for obtaining the order.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s attachment of earnings to Ms X’s salary to recover council tax arrears. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman