Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery action against Mr X for council tax arrears. The complaint concerns the commencement of court proceedings and is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Mr X also complained about delay in dealing with his information request and this is a matter which falls within the remit of the Information Commissioner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council issuing a summons for court action over outstanding council tax payments. He says the Council denied him an opportunity to present his case to the Magistrates Court and that it delayed in responding to a freedom of information request about court costs which was negligent.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X says he received a summons in 2021 for failure to pay monthly instalments on time. the summons was issued after a final reminder and the Council gave Mr X a date for a court hearing online due to COVID-19 restrictions.
8. Mr X asked the Council to provide details of his account and court charges from 2013. He made a freedom of information request to obtain the details and says the Council failed to respond within the statutory 20 days. The Council withdrew the original listing for November 2021 and offered to discuss the debt face to face. When Mr X failed to agree this a new hearing date of January 2022 was determined.
9. Mr X said he was still awaiting information form the Council and so the hearing was adjourned until February. This was further adjourned until March. The Council told Mr X that it could arrange a hearing with the court but that his FOI request about court costs would be addressed in due course and did not affect the court liability proceedings.
10. The Council obtained a liability order and Mr X submitted a letter before action advising it of legal action, he would be taking for negligence by the Council in dealing with his case. He is claiming £3,000 in compensation for the council’s negligence.
11. We have no discretion to consider complaint about the commencement of court proceedings. The Council gave Mr X opportunities to have face to face hearings and it provided sufficient information about his account for him to submit a defence. The information about court costs for which he submitted an FOI request concerned charges which are in addition to the amount of council tax being claimed by the Council.
12. The delay in responding to Mr X’s FOI request and subsequent subject access requests are matters which fall within the remit of the Information Commissioner and it was reasonable for Mr X to submit a complaint top that body.
13. The Ombudsman cannot determine liability claims for negligence. These are legal claims which may only be determined by insurers or the courts. Mr X has already advised the Council of his intention to pursue legal action over his claim of negligence and it is a matter for the courts to determine.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery action against Mr X for council tax arrears. The complaint concerns the commencement of court proceedings and is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Mr X also complained about delay in dealing with his information request and this is a matter which falls within the remit of the Information Commissioner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman