Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to agree to a fair and affordable payment plan to allow Mrs X to pay off her council tax arrears. She also complains the Council threatened to cancel her council tax support. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council refused to agree to a fair and affordable payment plan to allow her to pay off her council tax arrears. She also complains the Council threatened to cancel her council tax support.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X has council tax arrears. Mrs X offered to repay the Council a monthly amount which she considered was affordable for her. She says the Council rejected this offer.
7. The Council officer explained to Mrs X that before they could agree to the offer, they first needed to see information from her partner’s employer regarding redundancy payments. Once the information was received, only then could the officer decide what was a fair and affordable payment arrangement.
8. Further, the evidence shows the Council officer told Mrs X that any change in circumstance, such as a change in finances, would need to be reported. Otherwise, this could lead to the cancellation of council tax support. The officer also explained that if Mrs X did not provide evidence to show that no redundancy pay out had been received, this could result in the cancellation of her council tax support claim.
9. We will not investigate this complaint as there is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council considered Mrs X’s offer of a payment plan. The Council is entitled to decide the payment arrangements for collecting council tax arrears. This includes deciding what is a fair and affordable payment arrangement for the debtor. The Council has not said it would not agree to Mrs X’s offer. Rather, it asked Mrs X for further information about their finances so that it could decide what would be a fair and affordable arrangement for Mrs X. The Council has not yet received this information and so it cannot yet agree to Mrs X’s offer.
10. Further, there is insufficient evidence to support Mrs X’s complaint the Council threatened to cancel her council tax support. The Council did tell Mrs X of the circumstances in which her council tax support claim might be cancelled. However, this was appropriate as it ensured Mrs X was fully informed of the consequences of not reporting a change in financial circumstances.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman