Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery of council tax. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the actions of the Council’s enforcement agent (the Agency). He said he had experienced difficulties with the Agency dating back to 2019. He said despite it knowing he was dyslexic it did not provide sufficient support around the recovery of his council tax arrears. He also said the Agency wrongly:
• Asked him to provide bank statements to evidence his income. He said that was an invasion of his privacy.
• Sent him an Enforcement Visit Warning letter after it said he had not been in contact.
• Accused him of being rude on the telephone, resulting in it ending calls and not supporting him to arrange repayment of his arrears.
• Accused him of not making payments on previous debts.
2. Mr X said the Agency’s actions had caused him distress. He wants the Agency to adapt its services to provide better support to those with dyslexia.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X states he has had difficulties with the Agency for six years. Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until December 2024. Therefore, any complaints about the Agency’s actions before December 2023 are late and we will not investigate them.
9. In its complaint response, the Agency said it needed a copy of Mr X’s bank statement so it could complete a financial assessment. The Agency needs information about Mr X’s income and expenditure to make an informed decision about the amount Mr X can afford to pay. Although Mr X feels that providing this is an invasion of his privacy, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement. Additionally, Mr X now has a repayment plan with the Agency. There is nothing worthwhile to be achieved through further investigation.
10. In its complaint response, the Agency included written records of its telephone contact with Mr X. These indicate Mr X was uncooperative in these calls. The Agency said it could not discuss any additional support needs with Mr X because of his conduct. We appreciate Mr X disagrees with the Agency’s record of these calls, however, as we were not there, we cannot say what happened. Therefore, we will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the Agency’s call handling or support it provided. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Agency sent him an Enforcement Visit Warning letter, or that it incorrectly said he had not made repayments on previous debts. We will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by an organisation. I do not consider either of these actions have caused Mr X a significant injustice.

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman