London Borough of Ealing (22 000 974)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 31 Jul 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council handled the collection of council tax. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and because the matter is subject to the start of court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that he has been issued with a court summons for unpaid council tax, without first being issued with a demand in the post.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains that the Council failed to send him a demand for council tax in the post, prior to issuing him with a court summons. The Council’s says its records shows that Mr X signed up for paperless billing, prior to the demand being sent to him, and that the demand was subsequently sent by email. I will not investigate this complaint because there it is unlikely we would find fault. The Council say the demand was sent by email, and Mr X has confirmed that he has a copy. If someone signs up for paperless billing, we would not expect the Council to also send a paper copy of a demand.
- We cannot investigate the Council’s decision to issue a summons for recovery of the council tax debt. This is because we cannot investigate the start of court proceedings.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and we cannot investigate the start of court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman