Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about enforcement of Council tax as there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council served a summons for non payment of Council tax upon her without prior warning.

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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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X says that she moved to the area in October 2022 but did not then receive any reminders from the Council about payment of Council tax. The Council says that a bill was sent to her and reminders were also sent but cannot be held responsible if they were not received (there was a postal strike during this period).
6. We cannot say for certain what happened to the reminder letters sent by the Council and therefore cannot conclude that the Council is at fault in this matter. However, Ms X had a responsibility to pay Council tax from the date she moved in eg by setting up a direct debit through her bank. It is not the Council’s job to initiate a direct debit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman