Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his council tax account. We found fault by the Council, including avoidable delay and taking council tax recovery action after Mr X appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. Mr X experienced avoidable distress and unnecessary time and trouble before the Council adjusted his council tax bill to show a credit balance. To put matters right, the Council agreed to apologise to Mr X, pay £ 450 in recognition of his distress, time and trouble and refund his council tax credit.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council failed to correctly bill him for council tax and took recovery action knowing he had appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. The Council also delayed reviewing his case for 12 months until shortly before the Tribunal hearing, when it then adjusted his council tax bill and asked the Tribunal to close the case.
2. Mr X said what happened caused him much stress, including worry that bailiffs might come to his home, when he was not working.
3. Mr X wanted the Council to give him a public and private apology, suitable compensation and to reprimand the officers that handled his case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. 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)
8. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

9. I:

• considered Mr X’s written complaint and supporting papers;
• talked to Mr X about the complaint;
• asked for and considered the Council’s comments and supporting papers about the complaint;
• shared the Council’s comments with Mr X; and
• shared a draft of this statement with Mr X and the Council and considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background

10. Council tax is a combination of tax on the value of a property and a tax on individuals that is payable by the property occupier or owner.
11. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1st April. Councils may reduce a bill by applying an exemption or discount. For example, a sole resident may claim a single person discount, which will reduce their bill by 25%. And councils may award a 50% discount for a person’s home where they live in a property linked to their job. Councils must also have a ‘council tax reduction scheme’ for people they consider to be in financial need. A scheme may provide for a 100% reduction in council tax meaning the bill is £0.00. Councils may also increase a bill, for example, a property empty for two to five years may receive a bill for 200% council tax.
12. People may appeal against their council’s decision not to award a council tax discount or exemption. Such appeals go first to the council and then to the Valuation Tribunal (see paragraph 6).
13. A council will usually collect council tax by monthly instalments. If any instalment is missed the council will send the liable person a reminder. If a payment is still not made or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
14. To recover unpaid council tax, a council has to apply to the Magistrates Court for a liability order. Court proceedings start from the issue of the summons for a liability order (see paragraph 7). Once a council has a liability order it can take recovery action, which can include using enforcement agents or ‘bailiffs’. Councils add their costs when applying for a liability order. Enforcement agents will also add their recovery costs to the council tax debt.

What happened

15. Mr X owned a property in the Council’s area and from 2015 his council tax bill included a 25% single person’s discount. From March 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions took effect, Mr X lived full time at his property. He then became entitled to a council tax reduction that, with his single person discount, met his council tax liability in full during 2020 and 2021. Mr X’s complaint mainly concerned his liability to pay council tax for his property in 2018 and 2019.
16. In early 2020, shortly before moving back to his property full time, Mr X contacted the Council about a change in his circumstances. Mr X said, about two years earlier, he started a job in a county in southern England that needed him to live at his place of work. He therefore wanted to claim a 50% discount instead of the 25% single person discount on his property (see paragraph 11). Mr X also applied for a refund of some of the council tax he had paid over the previous two years.
17. In the months that followed, the Council asked for and considered information from Mr X about his job and occupation of his Sandwell property. The Council made various decisions about Mr X’s council tax liability and issued several bills. By July 2020, the Council’s position was that Mr X was not entitled to either a single person’s or job-related council tax discount. The Council billed Mr X for added council tax on an empty but furnished property while he was working in southern England.
18. Mr X challenged the Council’s final council tax decision. The Council then reviewed Mr X’s case but did not change its position. And, in late September 2020, it signposted Mr X to the Valuation Tribunal saying it would not further adjust his bill without a decision from the Tribunal. Mr X appealed to the Tribunal and told the Council he would not pay any further council tax until its decision.
19. In early December 2020, the Tribunal told the Council of Mr X’s appeal. The Council’s council tax officers passed Mr X’s case file to the Council’s legal department.
20. Meanwhile, the Council had started recovery action against Mr X for the 2018 and 2019 unpaid council tax, which was about £1,100. And in March 2021, Mr X received a court summons for non-payment of council tax. In response to Mr X’s complaint about the summons, the Council said it would hold further recovery action until 31 July 2021 or the Tribunal’s decision, whichever was sooner.
21. In late May 2021, Mr X told the Council the Tribunal had advised it would not decide his appeal before September 2021. The Council said it would delay further recovery action until 30 September.
22. In mid-June 2021, the Tribunal told both parties it would hear Mr X’s appeal on 1 September.
23. A month later, the Council’s legal department reviewed Mr X’s case. The Council then wrote to Mr X saying it had reinstated his single person’s discount and removed all penalties from his council tax account. The Council said Mr X had credit balance on his account, which it would refund immediately. The Council also said there was now no need for the Tribunal hearing to take place. (The Tribunal then closed Mr X’s appeal case.)
24. Mr X said the Council had denied him the opportunity for the Tribunal to hear his case and avoided explaining its position. Mr X asked why the Council did not reach its July 2021 decision much earlier rather than send letters and a court summons to intimidate him.
25. The Council apologised to Mr X for the stress and inconvenience caused by its delay in adjusting his council tax account and the impact of its correspondence. The Council offered to pay Mr X £150 given the poor service he received. Mr X found the Council’s response inadequate given it admitted providing a poor service and did not accept its offer to resolve his complaint.

The Council’s response to the Ombudsman

26. The Council said, in line with its usual practice, it had reviewed Mr X’s case both before referring him to the Tribunal and shortly before the Tribunal hearing. And time and resource pressures while COVID-19 restrictions were in place had affected its reviews of Mr X’s case. The Council also pointed to the lack of clarity about Mr X’s position in 2018 and 2019. It said Mr X had not responded to all its requests for information and there were inconsistencies in the information it received.
27. The Council confirmed it was not its usual practice to take council tax recovery action where an appeal decision was outstanding. Here, it had not quickly marked Mr X’s case records to show his appeal. The Council said it had learned from what happened and now placed a ‘hold recovery action’ note on case records on receiving an appeal notice.
28. The Council regretted Mr X felt intimidated by contacts about his council tax. It referred to its written records as evidence that contact with Mr X sought factual information about his circumstances necessary to clarify liability for council tax. The Council also said if Mr X had made contact about his position earlier than January 2020, it would likely have resolved matters more quickly.

Consideration

29. It is for the Council to decide Mr X’s liability to pay council tax. And the Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against the Council’s decisions on council tax liability and whether to apply an exemption or discount to a bill. We cannot investigate complaints about matters where people have already used their legal appeal rights or where councils start court action (see paragraphs 6, 7, 12 and 14). However, key to Mr X’s complaint was whether the issue of the court summons and his appeal to the Tribunal could have been avoided but for fault by the Council.
30. The Council received no further information about Mr X’s circumstances after July 2020. It therefore applied the same information to its July 2021 decision as it had to its July 2020 decision. But, the Council said it identified case law relevant to Mr X’s case in July 2021 and this led it to change its position on his council tax liability. I recognise the Council faced added service pressures during 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions and legal changes affecting council tax and business rates. However, I was not persuaded the Council acted without avoidable delay in reaching its July 2021 decision. I therefore found fault here. The time taken by the Council to reach its July 2021 decision added to Mr X’s distress and frustration.
31. The Council applied council tax reduction payments to Mr X’s account in 2020 and 2021 that reduced his council tax liability to zero. However, despite knowledge of Mr X's then financial circumstances and his appeal, it took recovery action for unpaid council tax from 2018 and 2019. Councils may take recovery action despite receiving a complaint and while awaiting an appeal decision. However, we normally expect councils to suspend recovery action until completing a complaint procedure and or receipt of an appeal decision. It is regrettable that, while the Council normally holds recovery action on appeal cases, this did not happen with Mr X’s case. I therefore also found fault here. In communicating with Mr X, the Council recognised that recovery action, including issuing a court summons, “…would have added extra stress to an already stressful time”. I agreed.
32. The Council also applied a ‘time limit’ when first agreeing to hold further recovery action (see paragraph 20). This put Mr X to avoidable time and trouble in seeking an extension of time when, after contacting the Tribunal, he found it would not hear his appeal before September 2021.

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Agreed action

33. Overall, a focused and thorough review of Mr X’s case around July/September 2020 would have avoided the need for both his appeal and the Council’s court action. And Mr X would not have had to live with the unresolved council tax liability ‘hanging over’ him for an added 12 months. I recognise it will likely be of little comfort to Mr X. However, I thank the Council for responding positively to the investigation and agreeing to improve its offer to put matters right for Mr X.
34. To provide a proportionate, appropriate and reasonable outcome for Mr X’s complaint, the Council agreed, within 30 working days of this statement, to:

• send Mr X a written apology for the avoidable distress, time and trouble caused by its handling of his council tax account;
• pay Mr X £300 in recognition of the avoidable distress caused by its handling of his council tax account;
• pay Mr X £150 in recognition of the avoidable time and trouble arising from its handling of his council tax account; and
• refund Mr X the £32.42 credited to his council tax account.

35. The Council also agreed, within 30 working days of this statement, to send the Ombudsman evidence of the service improvement it made in telling officers about:

• placing a minimum 28 day hold on recovery action on council tax accounts on receiving an appeal; and
• a senior officer reviewing such cases before removing such a hold on recovery action.

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Final decision

36. I completed my investigation, finding fault causing injustice, on the Council agreeing the recommendations set out at paragraphs 34 and 35.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman