Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled the complainant’s council tax arrears. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, says he is being harassed by bailiffs for council tax arrears. He says they will not accept a reasonable offer of payment. He wants the Council to recall the account and set up an affordable payment plan.

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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 updates from the Council and Mr X. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X has council tax arrears for two accounts; one account is with bailiffs. Mr X complained the bailiffs threatened him with prison and would not accept he could not pay £250 a month. Mr X asked the Council to accept £100 a month and to recall the debt from the bailiffs.
5. The Council said it would not recall the debt because, prior to instructing bailiffs, Mr X had made payment plans which he had not kept. It said Mr X had made a payment plan with the bailiffs but had not kept to it and had not made any payments for about six months. The Council offered to re-set his payments to pay £50 a month for the arrears with the Council, and £50 a month to the bailiffs for the other account.
6. Mr X accepted the arrangement but remains unhappy because the Council will not recall the account from the bailiffs. He complains the bailiffs threatened him with prison.
7. The bailiffs said they advise people of the consequences of non-payment which can include additional fees and committal to prison. The bailiffs said they would not take any further action if Mr X kept to the payment plan.
8. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The law allows councils to use bailiffs to collect council tax arrears and the Council explained why it would not recall the account. I appreciate Mr X would prefer the bailiffs not to be involved but there are no grounds on which we could ask the Council to recall the account. It is for the Council, not us, to decide which recovery option to use. The Council acted appropriately by re-arranging the payments to facilitate Mr X’s request to pay £100 a month (£50 for each account).
9. Mr X says the bailiffs harassed him. However, there is nothing to suggest the bailiffs did more than seek payment of the arears. I do not know exactly what was said regarding prison but, while I acknowledge this may have been stressful, it is not a matter that requires 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