Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s council tax arrears. This is because it is too late now to investigate council tax matters from earlier years and if Mrs X has a new complaint, she must first raise it with the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mrs X, complains about the Council’s handling of her council tax and says it has wrongly sought payment for council tax arrears despite the arrears having been cleared by a Debt Relief Order (DRO) made in her husband’s name in 2017 and in her name in 2020.

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 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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council/body of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

7. Mrs X and her husband are jointly and severally liable for the council tax for their home. This means that when Mr X obtained a DRO in 2017 and he did not have to pay the outstanding council tax arrears for the year 2016/2017, Mrs X was still liable because the Order only covered Mr X and did not cover her as well.
8. After Mr X’s 2017 DRO had been issued, the Council set up a new account for their council tax for 2017/2018. Mrs X complained to the Council in 2017 about her liability and payments due for the outstanding council tax.
9. In 2020 Mrs X obtained a DRO in her sole name. This meant that Mr X was still liable for the debt covered by Mrs X’s DRO in the same way that Mrs X had still been liable when Mr X had obtained a DRO in 2017.
10. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to earlier matters concerning the DROs. Mrs X could reasonably have raised a complaint with us at the time and I see no grounds which warrant exercising discretion to look at these matters now.
11. If Mrs X has a new complaint about the Council’s handling of her council tax, she will need to first raise this with the Council via its complaints procedure before we will consider it.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is too late now to investigate council tax matters from earlier years and if Mrs X has a new complaint, she must first raise it with the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman