Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax and council tax reduction because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council did not tell her it had ended her claim for council tax reduction (CTR) and, as a result, she has council tax arrears. Ms X wants the Council to cancel the fees and reduce her council tax.

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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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence, council tax bills and CTR letters. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

4. Ms X was receiving CTR. The Council ended the claim in November 2021 because it received information from the Department of Work and Pensions that Ms X’s income had increased. The Council sent a CTR decision letter which said it had ended the claim. It also sent a new council bill which showed the CTR had ended and her council tax had increased.
5. Ms X says she only worked for five weeks and did not know the CTR had stopped. Ms X did not increase her council tax payments.
6. The Council sent reminders and a summons regarding the arrears. The Council issued a bill in March 2022 for the new financial year. The bill showed there was no CTR in payment.
7. Ms X complained after she found out bailiffs were involved. In response, the Council explained her CTR had ended in November. The Council invited Ms X to make a new CTR claim and suggested she ask for backdating. It repeated this advice in subsequent complaint replies and put the bailiff action on hold until the end of December to give her time to make a payment plan.
8. Ms X says she received no council tax bills from April 2021 to March 2022 and in another email said she received no bill before August 2022. Ms X also says she received the enforcement notice about bailiff action before she had time to reply to the summons.
9. I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. It is unfortunate Ms X was unaware the CTR had ended but the Council sent a decision notice and a new council tax bill to the correct address. In addition, the new bill in March showed there was no CTR in payment and the reminders and summons were an opportunity for Ms X to realise there was a problem and act. Although Ms X says she received no council tax bills for many months I have seen copies of bills that were issued in May, June, July and December 2021; I have also seen the bill from March 2022. The bills were correctly addressed and the Council is not responsible for any problems with the post.
10. Ms X says she did not have time to respond to the summons before receiving the enforcement notice. But, the Council issued the summons in April 2022 and the enforcement notice was issued many months later and after the court issued a liability order.
11. The Council invited Ms X to submit a new claim for CTR in September but the Council told me it has not received a new application. If Ms X had made a new application last year, which was successful, then her council tax would have fallen. But, until she makes a claim the council tax cannot be reduced.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman