Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s council tax liability. This is because the matter has already been considered in court, and because the complaint is late without good reasons to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council wrongly billed her address twice for council tax for the period 2015-2017. Because she did not make the payment of the second bill, it claimed this through an attachment order and recovered the unpaid bill from her benefits in 2021-2022. There is still an outstanding balance, and the Council has obtained another attachment order to deduct the amount owed from her benefits in 2024-2025. Ms X wants the Council to reimburse the deductions and stop pursuing payment of the unpaid bill. Ms X also says the Council has breached GDPR by sharing her information with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to arrange the benefit attachment. Ms X says the situation has caused her stress and financial hardship.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions 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. 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 normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Ms X appealed against her liability for the unpaid council tax, but the Court rejected her appeal in March 2023. The Court ordered Ms X make payment to the Council by April 2023. When Ms X did not make the payment, the Council sought an attachment order from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), meaning any unpaid council tax is to be recovered through a reduction in her benefits. Ms X challenges this but an attachment order is agreed by the Secretary of State, so we cannot investigate as it is not a Council action.
10. We and the law expect a complaint to be made to us within 12 months of the complainant first becoming aware of an issue. Ms X first became aware of these matters in 2015. I understand Ms X had caring responsibilities for her mother at this time and left the country for four years to care for her. But it is reasonable to expect Ms X to have complained to us before 2025, 10 years after she first became aware of the matters she complains about. I do not consider there are good reasons for us to investigate now. Even if we did, we could not change the result of court and DWP decisions.
11. Ms X also complains the Council has shared her data with DWP to arrange the attachment order. If Ms X wishes to challenge this, she should approach the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as it is the UK’s independent regulator in respect of information sharing rights. It is therefore best placed to deal with any matters concerning a GDPR breach.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because:
• the matter has been subject to court proceedings;
• Ms X has already appealed to a tribunal and the court;
• it is late and the matters in it are now too old to investigate effectively;
• some decisions involved are not council decisions so we could not change the result; and
• the ICO is better placed to consider a data protection complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman