Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council manages council tax payments. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, says the Council does not individually review his council tax and did not let him pay over 12 months. Mr X wants an apology and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and information on the Council’s website. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The law says people must pay their council tax as stated on the bill. If they do not pay, as stated on the bill, councils can take recovery action. The default position is that people pay council tax by 10 monthly instalments, from April to February, but they can ask to pay over 12 months. The Council’s website invites people to get in touch if they want to pay over 12 months.
5. Mr X used to pay his council tax annually. In April 2023 he asked to pay by monthly instalments; he paid about £33 in April and June. The Council issued a new bill which required payment of about £42 from July to February. Mr X continued to pay about £33 a month which meant the account accrued arrears. The Council issued two reminders and a final notice; this was because Mr X continued to pay less than the amount stated on the bill. Mr X has sent a copy of the second reminder which says people must pay by the date stated on the bill. Mr X has referred to a section on the reminder which says people can pay over 12 months and does not say people must apply to do so.
6. In response to his complaint the Council said he had not applied to pay over 12 months and had not paid as stated on the bill. It said the recovery action was correct because he had not brought his account up to date in response to the reminders. It said it does not have the resources to monitor individual accounts. The Council apologised for a late complaint response and said it had changed his account to payment over 12 months.
7. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Mr X made regularly payments but he did not pay the amount stated on the bill. Mr X thinks the Council did not tell him he needed to apply to pay over 12 months but the payment arrangements were stated on the bill, including the amount, number of instalments and due date. There is information on the website inviting people to apply to pay over 12 months and the section on the reminder is immediately followed by contact details. As the bill and reminders explained the current payment requirement, it is reasonable to expect Mr X would have contacted the Council as it would have been clear he did not have a 12 month payment plan.
8. The Council apologised for a late complaint response and this is not an issue which requires an investigation or compensation. The Council explained council tax is a largely automated process where recovery action is triggered by non-payment of the correct amount of council tax. Given the large number of people who pay council tax the Council is correct to say it cannot monitor individual accounts; instead it relies on people paying in accordance with the information stated on bills, reminders, the on-line account (which Mr X uses) and its website.
9. I appreciate Mr X is dissatisfied with the way the Council managed his account but there is nothing to suggest we need to start an investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman