Summary: We found some fault by the Council on Mrs Y’s complaint about it failing to respond to correspondence. There was a delay replying to an email query she sent about her council tax account and responding to her stage 2 escalation request under its complaints procedure. The Council agreed to send Mrs Y a written apology for the fault found and carry out a review about the late stage 2 response. There was no fault on her complaint about it taking enforcement action against her.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains about the Council:
1. taking enforcement action against her for unpaid council tax despite her reporting changes in her circumstances and making agreed scheduled payments; and
2. failing to respond to correspondence.
2. As a result, this caused her a great deal of stress and anxiety as she has worried about the debt as well as bailiffs visiting her home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have not investigated any complaint Mrs Y has about the Council’s actions that took place before February 2024. This is because she complained to us in February 2025 and the law says 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). I have seen no good reasons why I should investigate earlier than February 2024.
7. Information about events given before this date are to put the current complaint in to context.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Mrs Y, the Council’s response to my enquiries, as well as relevant law, policy, and guidance. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mrs Y and the Council. I considered the Council’s response.

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What I found

Council tax law and policy

9. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)
10. Laws and regulations also control how enforcement agents can collect money owed to the council. (The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007)
11. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments. If a person who has to pay council tax misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If they still do not pay, or miss another payment, then they must pay all they owe (the full amount for the rest of the year).
12. Councils who want to recover unpaid council tax have to ask the magistrate’s court for a liability order against people it thinks owe it the money. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed.
13. Councils administer a local scheme of Council Tax Support. This is a means tested discount off the cost of a council tax bill for those on a low income.

Discounts

14. A full council tax bill assumes two adults live in a property unless the Council is told otherwise.
15. The Council can apply a discount to the bill. Discounts concern the number or type of occupants. For example:

• Single person discount: If only one adult lives in the property, the bill is reduced by 25%. The Council must be told if there is no longer entitlement to a single occupier discount

16. When considering the number of adults in a property, the Council will not include full-time students. They are ‘disregarded’ (not counted) and this lasts until the course ends or the student leaves.
17. A council needs to receive an application for a discount. This is the case even when a person is disregarded.

What happened

18. Mrs Y is a single parent who has four children. She complains about the way the Council dealt with her council tax account. She said despite telling it about changes in her circumstances, and regularly paying monthly instalments, the Council took enforcement action against her. She argued bills were not explained and periods when she was on benefits, which meant she should have received council tax support, were not considered properly.

2024:

19. January: The Council contacted Mrs Y with a Single Person’s Discount (the discount) review form. She needed to complete this to be entitled to it.
20. A reminder was sent to her in February as she had not responded. Towards the end of the month, the Council removed the discount as she failed to complete the form. It was removed to April 2023. The Council noted she failed to tell it when each child turned 18 years old. Her children would have turned 18 in 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2022. This was important because the discount was only payable where there was one adult in the house aged 18 or over.
21. It issued her with a revised bill for 2024/25 of £116 a month (bill 1).
22. In March, the Council wrote to her and explained how the discount worked. It noted her 4 children were all registered to her address. It asked when they moved out and for student certificates. The certificates are proof of being a full time student.
23. Mrs Y said she contacted the Council and asked it to recalculate what she owed. This was because she completed the discount review form and said her non-dependent children had all been in full time education.
24. The Council sent her a revised bill with a payment due the following month. While it accepted she later returned the review form, she had answered ‘no’ to the question about whether anyone else lived there, over 18, who was not a student. This was incorrect as her son was living there and worked full time. The Council checked the electoral register and found her son living there. It removed the discount from 2017, which was when her son turned 18.This meant a full charge for council tax was payable.
25. In April 2024, it issued a revised bill for monthly payments. The total sum due was £293 a month (bill 2). She was again asked to clarify who was living in the house, when they moved in, and when they moved out. The payment she made this month did not match that needed for bill 2. Under the Council’s system, this meant the payment was allocated to the oldest debts from 2017/18.
26. Her payment in May did not match the new instalment due either so was also automatically allocated to reduce the oldest debt.
27. When she sent the Council further information, it again asked her to provide student certificates for her children so it could review her council tax bill. She said she could not provide this for her daughter. She sent her son’s identify card for when he started university five years earlier.
28. A reminder notice was issued the same month as payments had not been made and nor had the information asked for been sent.
29. The Council accepted it could have, in May, asked the exact date her daughter left home and checked the student list it had for her son’s university. This was because the Council already knew he had finished his course in 2022. While accepting this, the Council said it would have made no difference to the overall calculation though. It still needed evidence of the student status of her two other children. It accepted the information requested from her could have been more specific. It did not ask for more specific information until July. It also accepted the officer could have signposted her to the Benefit’s Service contact details if she wanted to query her previous entitlement to council tax support based on benefits. It has already given feedback to the manager to ensure these failures were not repeated in the future.
30. Mrs Y said she had not received the reminder notice but had been paying the instalments under bill 1. She was again reminded about the evidence needed. Although she sent some information in June, this was not enough.
31. The following month, the Council issued a revised bill (bill 3), but Mrs Y continued to make the payments under bill 1. She was again asked to provide the information.
32. In June, she applied for Council Tax Support and received a minimal award based on earnings and Universal Credit. Although she contacted the Council twice this month, she failed to give the date one of her children had moved out, for example.
33. In July, it again told her it needed further information if she wanted to apply for student discounts. This included exact dates the children moved out and evidence of starting university. It sent her a revised bill (bill 4). The Council noted she continued to make payments as set out for bill 1.
34. The Council sent her a reminder notice in August and October for financial years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24. The Council issued a summons in October for these financial years along with court costs. It had not issued it sooner as it wanted to give Mrs Y more time to provide sufficient information, especially as colleges were closed which might have made it difficult for her to get the student certificates needed. It was only later this month that she provided all the evidence needed.
35. In November, the reminder notice for 2024/25 was issued as she had not made payments according to the bill sent. The Council later withdrew this notice.
36. She sent a formal complaint about the way it dealt with her council tax. The Council sent its response at the end of the month. The same month, it updated her account based on information she provided and historical information from the university.
37. In December, the Council sent her a council tax bill for 2024/25 with a sum she had to pay before the start of the new year. She continued to pay the amount under bill 1 so a reminder notice was issued the following month.
38. In February 2025, the Council reviewed her complaint at stage 2. It apologised for the delay responding as she sent her request in mid-December. Under stage 2 of its complaints procedure, it should have responded to her request within 20 working days.
39. In March, the Council got a liability order for £1,093.01 against her.
40. The Council reviewed her account and due to errors applying discounts over certain periods, which overlapped, it awarded a 50% discount. The revised discount figures were all for periods up to 2022. This meant her account went into credit by £617.86

My findings

41. I found the following:
1. The evidence showed the Council repeatedly asked Mrs Y for evidence of her children’s attendance at university and who was living in her home. This was clearly important information it needed to assess whether she had any entitlement to the discount. Mrs Y did not provide this evidence to the Council until October 2024.
2. She also failed to notify the Council of changes in circumstances as they happened in the past. This included her children turning 18 and the dates when they started and ended university and when any moved in or out of her home.
3. The Council sent her revised bills but while Mrs Y continued to make regular payments, these were the amounts due under bill 1, not any of the later bills. This meant these sums were allocated to old debt and not towards the council tax liability year she thought she was paying. This in turn meant the current council tax bill for that year fell into arrears. This was why the Council then went on to take recovery action.
4. The Council accepted its information request in May 2024 could have been more specific and could have signposted her to its Benefits Service if she had queries about her previous Council Tax Support. This is fault. I consider this caused Mrs Y some injustice as she suffered distress (frustration and lost opportunity).
5. I am satisfied the evidence showed the Council was aware of the benefits she received over the years.
6. The Council accepted there was some delay responding to some of her correspondence, such as her email sent in July 2024 (around 12 weeks), for example, and with responding to her request for her complaint to go to stage 2 under its complaints procedure (just over three weeks delay taking account of the Christmas and New Year holiday). While the Council explained the delay with her correspondence was due to high workloads the service had outstanding at the time, and not inaction by a specific officer, I remain satisfied this is fault. This is because the Council should have taken steps to ensure that outstanding workloads were reduced promptly. It needed to ensure there was enough capacity in the system to meet demand without significant delays. I consider this caused Mrs Y some injustice as she suffered distress (frustration, uncertainty, and the lost opportunity to have her complaint resolved sooner)

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Agreed action

42. I took account of our guidance on remedies. I also considered the following action the Council took which included:

• Giving feedback to the manager of an officer to ensure customer’s correspondence is considered more thoroughly in the future and correct procedures were to be followed;
• The time the Council gave her to provide necessary evidence;
• Confirming the number of outstanding items had reduced significantly from the start of that year. Updates from the relevant service shows the outstanding work position has improved.
• Withdrawing summonses sent to her, removing court costs, and deleting a liability order; and
• It correcting her account because of overlapping discounts applied which led to a credit on her account of £617.86.

43. The Council agreed to take the following action within four weeks of the final decision on this complaint:
1. Send Mrs Y a written apology for the injustice caused by its failure to: respond promptly to her email sent in July 2024; respond to her stage 2 request within the timescales set out in its complaints procedure.
2. Review why there was a delay acting on her stage 2 request and act to ensure this is not repeated in the future.
44. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

45. I found the following on Mrs Y’s complaint against the Council:

• Complaint a): no fault; and
• Complaint b): fault causing injustice.

46. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman