Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments to allow him to attend a liability hearing for a council tax debt and as such, failed to meet its duties under the Equality Act 2010. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments to allow him to attend a liability hearing for a council tax debt and as such, failed to meet its duties under the Equality Act. Mr X stated this prevented him from being able to attend the hearing and present his defence.

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What I have and have not investigated

2. I have investigated the Council’s actions.
3. I have not investigated what happened in court because 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)
4. I have not investigated how the Court met its duties under the Equality Act to Mr X because we cannot investigate a complaint where the body complained about (the Council) is not responsible for the issue being raised. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(1), as amended)

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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’. 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. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

7. I considered the documents Mr X sent to me.
8. I considered the documents the Council sent in response to my enquiries.
9. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Equality Act 2010

10. The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. It offers protection in the carrying out of public functions.
11. The Equality Act makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. One of the protected characteristics is disability. They must also have regard to the general duties aimed at eliminating discrimination under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
12. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people.

Council tax

13. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cover both the way councils collect payments of council tax, and the way councils can recover council tax debt.
14. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect payment through 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).
15. To use the various powers available to it to recover unpaid council tax, a council must apply to the magistrates court for a liability order against those it believes are liable. Once a council has obtained a liability order it can take recovery action.
16. A liability order gives a council the legal power to take enforcement action to collect the money owed.

What happened

17. Mr X was a resident of the Council’s area in 2021. He was liable for Council tax. Mr X is disabled and uses a wheelchair.
18. In December 2021 the Council applied to the magistrates court for a liability order against Mr X as he had not paid council tax since April 2019. The court wrote to Mr X and summonsed him to appear before Court B in January 2022.
19. Mr X emailed the Council in January 2022 and said he could not access Court B because of his disability, and he wanted to present a full defence. Mr X said he had also contacted the court about the matter. The Council stated it did not receive this email.
20. In January 2022 the court issued a liability order against Mr X for the council tax debt.
21. Mr X complained to the Council in January 2022. He said it had deliberately chosen a court he could not access, to stop him from presenting his defence.
22. The Council responded to Mr X and explained the court had issued the liability order and if he wished to have it set-aside he must contact the court.
23. Mr X complained to us in March 2022, we asked the Council to consider Mr X’s complaint at stage 2. Mr X told the Council he did not want any further contact from it.
24. The Council responded to Mr X’s in May 2022. It said:
• the court was assigned to the Council, rather than the Council choosing which court it would use;
• it would not choose to use Court B if it had an option;
• it had not received any communication from Mr X before the hearing about his ability to access the court building; and
• Mr X should refer his complaint about accessibility to the court or the Ministry of Justice.
25. In response to my enquiries the Council stated it was aware of Mr X’s disabilities. It said it did not share any information with the court about Mr X’s disabilities, accessibility requirements or reasonable adjustments due to data protection laws and because Mr X should have discussed it with the court.

My findings

26. The Council was not responsible for deciding which court Mr X was summonsed to. Although the Council was aware of Mr X’s disabilities it was not responsible for ensuring the court was aware or that it met any accessibility arrangements or reasonable adjustments. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.
27. Mr X said he made the Council aware he could not access the court. The Council said it did not receive that email. I cannot make a finding on whether the Council did receive that email or not. However, that does not alter the fact that the responsibility for the accessibility arrangements were not the Council’s and Mr X had already contacted the court about the matter.

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Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation. I did not find any fault in the actions of the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman