Summary: We cannot investigate Dr Y’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his council tax account. This is because the law prevents us from considering complaints about action in connection with court proceedings and we will not separately consider how the Council considered a complaint about it.

The complaint

1. Dr Y complained about how the Council dealt with his council tax account and its decision to issue a summons for the overdue payments. Dr Y also complains the Council then behaved unreasonably and obstructively when he tried to complain about this.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by a council about a matter which is outside our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
5. 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.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Dr Y and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

8. The law says instalments of council tax must be paid on or before the due date. If the payment is late the Council will issue a reminder. The Council will issue a maximum of two reminders. If a payment is late for a third time the full outstanding amount becomes due, and the right to pay by instalments is cancelled. Dr Y failed to pay council tax instalments on time in several months of 2022/23, and had not responded to a Final Notice after eight weeks so the Council issued a summons.
9. In this case, I am satisfied the Council followed the correct process before issuing the summons. Dr Y has complained about the Council’s decision to issue the summons and says the Council failed to take account of his individual circumstances. He also says the Council did not provide details to show the amount of costs it was seeking. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or action associated with it. The summons showed the total amount due including the summons costs.
10. Dr Y has raised many concerns about how the Council has dealt with his complaint and says its complaint procedure is ineffective and obstructive. We do not use public resources to consider the Council’s complaint handling if we are not investigating the subject of the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Dr Y’s complaint because it is about action in connection with the start of court proceedings and we will not separately investigate the Council’s handling of a complaint about the matter.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman