Summary: The complainant complains about delays by the Council in preparing a new council tax account, leading to unaffordable payment requests. When the Council reset payment arrangements, it twice did not write to her. It also delayed responding to her complaint. She says this has been an incredibly stressful experience. Our decision is there was some fault by the Council in not writing to the complainant and delaying its complaint response. The Council has remedied some injustice by apologising, withdrawing reminders, summons and costs. The Council has agreed to our recommendation of a symbolic extra remedy.

The complaint

1. My summary of this complaint is that:
• after the complainant (Miss V) moved to a new flat, the Council did not respond to her contacts. Instead it delayed billing her and then increased her payment schedule, three times, within the tax year;
• Miss V received a summons out of the blue, after using the Council’s online portal. She spoke to an advisor who advised her the amount showing on the portal was wrong. But the Council did not send a revised bill;
• the Council advised Miss V her account was in credit and she did not need to make a payment, but then she received another summons;
• the Council’s response to Miss V’s complaint was delayed.
2. Miss V says this has been an incredibly stressful experience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
6. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

7. I have not investigated whether Miss V was liable for council tax as that is a matter with an alternative remedy available to the Valuation Tribunal.
8. I have also not investigated issues that arose in the time after Miss V’s complaint to the Ombudsman.

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How I considered this complaint

9. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Miss V;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered its response;
• spoken to Miss V;
• sent Miss V and the Council my draft decision and considered the responses I received.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

10. Council tax is a tax made on domestic properties. Councils issue one bill to each household. Residents of dwellings, including tenants, are usually liable for council tax from the date they moved into the property.
11. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cover both the way councils collect payments of council tax and the way councils can recover council tax debt.
12. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect payment through monthly instalments. If the liable person misses any instalment, the council will send a reminder. If a payment is still not made, or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
13. The law says that councils can serve a document about billing or enforcement of council tax by delivering it in person, leaving it at the person’s proper address, or sending it by post to their proper address. There is no need to use registered or recorded post. Unless the contrary is proved, a document is deemed to have been served by post when it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. (Local Government Act 1972 (Section 233); Regulation 35(2) of The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992; The Interpretation Act 1978 (Section 7))

The Council’s council tax recovery policy

14. The Council’s council tax recovery policy:
• in line with its legal obligations, offers payment options at the start of the year, of ten or twelve monthly instalments;
• says payments should reach its account by the due date and match the amounts shown on the bill;
• says that anyone who cannot maintain their payments may contact the Council and ask to extend payments into the following year if appropriate;
• says, if someone does not pay on time, the Council sends them a reminder notice advising them of this and making it clear that court action will follow if payment is not made.

What happened

15. Miss V moved into a new flat in October 2022. Around two weeks after she moved, she contacted the Council to report she could not access her online council tax account. The Council says Miss V had moved into a new property and the Valuation Office Agency (VOA – the body that decides what council tax band a property is in) had not confirmed the council tax banding for the property. This meant the property was not on the Council’s system.
16. Around a month later (towards the end of November), the Council updated its council tax records and made Miss V liable for council tax from the date she moved in. The VOA had still not given the property a banding, but the Council gave it a provisional banding and sent Miss V a paper bill. This asked for a first payment on 1 January 2023 followed by two further instalments.
17. Miss V says she did not receive this bill. The Council says it uses the Royal Mail and asks it not to redirect mail. It says Royal Mail did not return either this bill or subsequent bills.
18. Miss V spoke to a Council officer at the beginning of December. She says the officer:
• told her the Council had not created an account; and
• set the account up that day.
19. The Council officer’s note of the conversation says Miss V advised she had not received her earlier bill, so the officer sent her a copy. The bill on the Council’s file with the December date notes: “This is a copy of your last bill”.
20. In mid-December the VOA confirmed the banding of the property, so the Council sent Miss V an amended bill. As the VOA had confirmed the provisional banding, there was no change to the amount of council tax due, or the payment arrangements.
21. At the end of December 2022, Miss V received the bill the Council had re-sent at the beginning of the month. Miss V was unhappy with the payment arrangements set out in the bill.
22. Miss V did not make the payment due at the beginning of January 2023.
23. At the end of January Miss V complained that she did not receive a council tax bill until the end of December 2022.
24. Miss V did not make the next scheduled payment which was due at the beginning of February. Around a week later, the Council issued a reminder for the two months’ council tax payments.
25. The Council did not uphold Miss V’s complaint, as it was satisfied it had not delayed in setting up the new council tax account and it had issued the council tax bill to Miss V. But, as a goodwill gesture, it withdrew the reminder notice (see paragraph 24) and extended the payment period for Miss V’s 2022/23 council tax account into the following tax year. It advised Miss V that, in March, it would send her a new bill for the following (2023/24) tax year. She had an option then to ask the Council to combine the two accounts and spread the payments over a longer period.
26. In March the Council issued a council tax bill for the 2023/24 tax year. Miss V spoke to an officer around a week later. The officer agreed to Miss V’s request to combine her payments and said the Council would issue her a new arrangement by post.
27. At the beginning of April the Council issued Miss V a revised bill, combining the 2022/23 and 2023/24 council tax accounts. It set out 10 monthly instalments due from the beginning of May.
28. Miss V made a payment at the beginning of May but for less than the amount due. She made further payments in June and July, both for less than the amounts set out in the payment arrangement.
29. The Council issued reminder notices at the end of May and the end of June and in mid-July it sent Miss V a summons for a liability order hearing.
30. Miss V spoke to an officer after receiving the summons. She said she was angry she had received a summons. She said she did not know why, as she had been making payments. The Council says the officer tried to explain the outstanding debt and the Council had sent the summons as she had not made the exact payments agreed. Miss V continued to dispute the summons. The officer agreed to set up a revised payment plan, beginning in mid-August. The advisor also agreed to withdraw the summons costs. In its response to the Ombudsman, the Council says it accepts Miss V likely misunderstood the agreed payment arrangements, which is why she had not been paying the correct amounts.
31. During the telephone conversation with Miss V, the officer said she would get a revised bill. The Council accepts it did not send out a revised bill. It says its officer misunderstood its procedure for combined bills, which is why its system did not then generate a revised bill.
32. Miss V contacted the Council at the beginning of August as she had not received the revised bill. The officer agreed to re-send a copy of the bill. The Council says this officer did not notice the mistake made by the earlier officer (see paragraph 31). So its system did not send Miss V a copy of the new arrangement.
33. Miss V made the first payment of the new arrangement in mid-August. But she missed the payment due in mid-September. She made the October payment early. The Council says it reviewed Miss V’s account toward the end of October when it noticed it had not issued her with the payment plan. So it reset her plan, and did not treat it as being in arrears. It issued Miss V with a new payment plan, due to begin in mid-November.
34. Miss V made a payment at the beginning of November, but for an amount agreed in the July payment plan.
35. Later in November Miss V contacted the Council as she had not received the July payment plan. The Council says its officer advised Miss V of the October plan. And that she did not need to make a further payment in November. Miss V wanted the Council to reinstate the July payment arrangement. The Council says Miss V’s payment history from July did not allow that. So its officer took a complaint (although incorrectly advising Miss V of the stage of the complaint process she was at). The officer advised Miss V he would issue a new payment plan. He said he would agree to Miss V making a December payment at the July rate, due to her complaint.
36. The Council later acknowledged Miss V’s complaint and advised it would provide a full response, shortly before Christmas, advising her to continue to make payments.
37. Miss V responded to the acknowledgement saying she had been advised she did not need to make a payment until the end of December, and the Council was now telling her differently.
38. Miss V did not make any payment in December.
39. At the end of December 2023 and twice in January 2024 Miss V contacted the Council, as it had not responded to her complaint within its agreed timescales.
40. In mid-January the Council issued Miss V with a reminder for a missed payment. Miss V did not make the next payment, so at the beginning of February, the Council issued a summons.
41. Miss V contacted the Ombudsman towards the end of February. The following day the Council provided its complaint response. It apologised for the delay. It upheld the part of her complaint about not receiving a revised bill in either July or August. The Council set out a new payment arrangement, advised Miss V she did not need to attend court and withdrew the summons costs. It set out a new payment arrangement and advised Miss V she needed to make payments to avoid future enforcement action.

Analysis

42. Contrary to Miss V’s understanding, the Council did issue her with a council tax bill in November 2022. I do not know why she did not receive it. But the Council has sent me evidence it was sent which is sufficient (for the reasons set out at paragraph 13). So I cannot uphold this part of her complaint.
43. Miss V says the officer she spoke to in December 2022 told her the Council had not previously set up an account and she set up the account that day. Although a recording of that call no longer exists, the officer did make a note. And the Council has a copy of the bill it issued then. These show the bill was a copy of a bill the Council had earlier issued. It set out the same payment arrangements as the original bill. So my decision is Miss V likely misunderstood what she was told then and the account had been set up earlier. So while I acknowledge Miss V’s frustration, that was not then due to fault by the Council.
44. Despite it not being at fault at this point, as a gesture of goodwill, the Council withdrew a reminder notice and reset Miss V’s payment arrangements. But there was further confusion in early 2023, as it seems Miss V misunderstood the payments the Council was asking her to make. Again, I do not see this was due to any fault by the Council.
45. But I do find fault (so agree with the Council) that from July 2023 it twice missed sending Miss V new payment arrangements. That will have led to avoidable additional uncertainty and stress for her that could have been avoided. It also led to a summons that Miss V might have avoided, but for the fault.
46. That avoidable stress and uncertainty was compounded by the Council’s delayed response to Miss V’s complaint.

47. The faults meant for the period between July 2023 and February 2024 Miss V experienced some avoidable uncertainty and distress and time and trouble. The Council went some way to remedying this by removing summons costs and resetting payment arrangements. But my decision is this will left an injustice that demands an acknowledgment by way of a symbolic remedy.

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Agreed action

48. The Council had already provided a partial remedy by withdrawing summons costs and agreeing new payment arrangements. I recommended that, within a month of my final decision, it also:
• send an apology letter to Miss V for the faults I have identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings;
• make Miss V a symbolic payment of £150 to recognise the avoidable distress and time and trouble she was put to between July 2023 and February 2024 as a result of the missed updated statements and delayed response to her complaint.
49. The Council has agreed to those recommendations. It should send the Ombudsman evidence of it completing the agreed actions.

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Final decision

50. I uphold the complaint, as there was fault by the Council. It has agreed to my recommendations, so I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman