Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to offer Mrs X support with her Council Tax arrears. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council has not provided her with financial support in its management of her council tax arrears.
2. She said she has been caused stress and upset by the Council’s actions.

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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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. In cases where council tax arrears remain unpaid, councils can apply to the magistrates court for a liability order. The council can charge costs for the issue of the order. The council can then pass the account to an enforcement agency (EA) to recover the debt. At this point, the agency acts to recover the outstanding monies.
7. In 2016, Mrs X fell behind with her Council tax payments and the account went into arrears. The Council offered her a payment arrangement but after she was unable to keep to the payment arrangement, the Council applied for a liability order. Mrs X contacted the Council and over the years the Council applied numerous holds to the account to allow Mrs X the opportunity to clear the arrears.
8. In 2023 Mrs X complained to the Council because she was unhappy with the Council’s decision to refer her debt to an external enforcement agency. She was also unhappy the Council added the cost of applying for a liability order to her debt.
9. The Council explained it had previously offered her 12 payment arrangements over the years, but Mrs X defaulted payment on all of them. The Council also signposted Mrs X to debt advice and ways to reduce the debt. The Council did not uphold her complaint.
10. Mrs X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to find the Council at fault for pursuing recovery action against the arrears on the account. The evidence shows the Council has repeatedly agreed payment arrangements with Mrs X which have been cancelled due to non-payment. The law allows the Council to apply to the courts for a liability order in cases of unpaid debt and to refer the costs for this to the debtor. There is no evidence of fault with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint 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