Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about recovery collection taken on his daughter Ms Y’s council tax account. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained on behalf of his daughter Ms Y that the Council failed to take her status as a vulnerable debtor into account when it referred the arears on her Council Tax account to a debt collection agency. He further complained about the actions taken by enforcement agents to recoup the outstanding debt.
2. Mr X says Ms Y has been caused distress and upset due to this matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Ms Y is a single parent and has a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. She accrued a debt on her Council tax account over several years and did not keep to the payment arrangement, prompting the Council to refer the account to a debt collection agency (DCA) in November 2021.
7. Mr X contacted the Council on Ms Y’s behalf in September 2022 and stated he was unhappy with the behaviour of the DCA enforcement agents to recoup the balance on Ms Y’s account. He was also unhappy with the Council’s calculation of the outstanding balance.
8. The Council told Mr X it placed a hold on Ms Y’s account several times considering her status as a vulnerable debtor and provided a statement of account. The Council referred Mr X to the DCA to complain about the enforcement agents’ behaviour.
9. The DCA told Mr X it followed its safeguarding and vulnerable person policy when contacting Ms Y and placed her account on hold several times. The DCA told Mr X it also referred Ms Y to various debt charities and attempted to enter into a suitable payment plan with her but she refused to provide information about her financial status.
10. Mr X has entered into a financial agreement with the DCA to clear the arrears on Ms Y’s account but remains unhappy with the treatment she has received. Guidance requires Councils to refrain from removing goods from a vulnerable debtor and provide them with reasonable timescales to repay their debts. The evidence shows the Council and the DCA have considered Ms Y’s vulnerable status, suspended debt collection activity on the account, offered Ms Y advice, referred her to local debt charities and attempted to agree a reasonable payment plan with her. The Council has also provided a statement of account confirming the outstanding balance. The Council’s actions have been in line with what we would expect.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about recovery collection taken on his daughter Ms Y’s council tax account. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman