Summary: There was no fault in the way the Council allocated payments to Ms X’s council tax account or in its decisions to take recovery action. There was fault in the way the Council communicated about the matter. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment to Ms X to recognise the avoidable frustration and uncertainty caused by its fault. It will also take steps to prevent recurrence of the same fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the way the Council handled her council tax bills, allocated payments and about its decision to take unnecessary enforcement action. Ms X also complained about the Council’s communication and that it did not properly follow the alternative dispute resolution process or a pre-action protocol process to resolve payment disputes before escalating to court action.
2. Ms X said as a result she was caused frustration, confusion and faced unnecessary recovery action which added to the frustration.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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).
7. The judicial review pre-action protocol process (a step before starting a court case) is a legal process, not an administrative function of councils and our jurisdiction does not allow us to look at legal process. Therefore, I cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the pre-action protocol process.
8. 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)
9. Ms X complained to us about arrears for the tax year 2023/24 in February 2025. We expect complainants to complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue and Ms X did not become aware of arrears related to this tax year until 2024. Therefore, I have looked at her complaint about council tax summons starting from the tax year 2023/2024.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

10. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
11. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

12. 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)
13. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments, usually ten payments from April to January. 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 within seven days, the council can apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a liability order. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed.
14. A summons is issued to the person when a council applies to the magistrates’ court for unpaid council tax. The summons instructs the person to attend the magistrates’ court to explain why the council tax is unpaid. The council will charge costs for the issue of a summons and a liability order.
15. Council tax reduction (CTR, also known as council tax support) is a discount, not a benefit. It reduces the amount of council tax a person on low income has to pay.
16. In exceptional circumstances, the law says councils can decide not to collect some or all of a council tax debt. (S13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended))

What happened

17. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.
18. Ms X’s income fluctuates and so her entitlement to council tax reduction regularly changes. When the Council is notified of a change in Ms X’s universal credit from the Department for Work and Pensions it will issue a new council tax bill, amending the council tax support awarded and the council tax owed.
19. The Council emailed Ms X in May 2023. It said:

• The Council awarded Ms X a council tax hardship payment in April 2023 for the tax year 2023/24 which meant her council tax balance for 2023/24 was zero.
• On 20 April 2023 the Council said Ms X’s council tax liability for 2023/24 changed because her benefit entitlement (universal credit) had changed. This had increased her council tax liability for 2023/24. The Council notified Ms X of this change.
• It had awarded Ms X an increased hardship payment in relation to the tax year 2023/24 which had made her balance nil. Based on that the Council removed the summons and associated costs and said Ms X did not need to attend a liability order hearing on 22 June 2023

20. In November 2023 the Council sent Ms X a council tax bill for 2023/24 which stated that the total amount due was nil.
21. In January 2024 the Council amended Ms X’s council tax bill for 2023/24 to show a balance owed of £180.74.
22. In late October 2024 Ms X complained to the Council about receiving a court summons for the tax year 2023/24 requiring court attendance in mid- November 2024. She included a copy of council tax payments made to the Council between July and October 2024.
23. In mid-November 2024 the Council wrote to Ms X and said:

• Council tax is due monthly and must be paid on the same date each month.
• A new bill with revised monthly installments was issued every time there was a change to Ms X’s monthly amounts due to change in her council tax support award.
• Ms X had not added her council tax account number as a reference to a payment she had made therefore it had not allocated that payment to her council tax account. The Council allocated this payment to her account and removed the summons and associated costs. It told her not to attend the court hearing later that day. It also told her of the balance for 2023/24 and advised of council tax (and monthly installments) she was liable for 2024/25 due with payment due on 1 December 2024.

24. In early December 2024 the Council issued a stage one complaint response. It said:

• As per its letter of November 2024, the Council had removed the summons and associated costs and had provided an update on the balance Ms X owed for 2023 and 2024.
• Ms X’s council tax support entitlement was updated whenever the Council received updated details of changes to her earnings following universal credit assessments.
• Change in Ms X’s universal credit significantly increased her council tax support entitlement in September 2024 due to lower earnings and the council tax support decreased in October 2024 due to higher monthly earnings which resulted in a council bill with a lower balance and another bill with a higher balance the following month.
• Changes to council tax bills could not be avoided due to changes in Ms X’s earnings.

25. Ms X asked the Council to escalate her complaint. She said her complaint was not about the fluctuating bills. She said if the Council had engaged in dispute resolution it would have highlighted the three payments she had made that the Council had failed to add to her council tax account - this would have avoided a court summons and the distress Ms X was put through as a result.
26. On 21 December 2024 Ms X received a council tax bill with instalments for February and March 2025.
27. On 31 December 2024 Ms X made a payment of £107.54. She later noted that she forgot to include her council tax reference number.
28. In mid-February 2025 Ms X received a payment reminder from the Council that stated she owed £215.07.
29. In mid-February 2025 Ms X told the Council that a payment she had made on 31 December 2024 for £107.54 had not reflected in her account. She said she had requested an explanation earlier in the month but had received no response.
30. In late February 2025 Ms X complained to us. We asked the Council if Ms X’s complaint had completed its complaints process but received no response. We accepted her complaint.
31. On 31 March 2025 Ms X made a second payment of £107.54 with the correct account reference number.
32. On 14 April 2025 Ms X told us she had received correspondence from the Council to say she owed council tax for the previous tax year when the payments had been made and her account was clear.
33. The Council’s letter of 14 April stated:

• Ms X had arrears for the tax year 2024/25 (£215.99) which was due on 1 March 2025.
• For this tax year (2025/26) Ms X had a payment of £82.81 due on 1 April 2025.

34. Ms X replied to the Council and attached evidence of payments she had made until 31 March 2025 and said that the Council had failed to provide a statement of reasons for the financial year ending March 2025.
35. On 15 April 2025 the Council sent Ms X a reminder for the April instalment.
36. On 21 April 2025 the Council was notified of a change in Ms X’s income.
37. On 25 April 2025 the Council wrote to Ms X and said there was no attachment with her email sent earlier in the month. It outlined payments Ms X had made in June, July, October, November and December 2024 and a payment she had made in March 2025. It told her which tax year these payments had been allocated to. It explained that as she had an outstanding debt for 2023, the payments were clearing the old debt first before the current year. Therefore, she still had an outstanding balance of £215.99 for 2024/25.
38. Ms X replied to the Council and said she did not owe council tax for 2023/24 because the Council had sent her an email confirming the 2023/24 summons had been withdrawn and no monies were owed. She asked the Council for an explanation regarding its claim that she owed council tax for 2023/24. She also said the Council’s summary of payments was missing payments of the same amount she had made in December 2024 and March 2025.
39. On 1 May 2025 the Council emailed Ms X confirming the outstanding balance for 2024/25. Ms X replied and asked the Council for a reconsideration of her account because her income had changed between the council tax bills and the statements produced and this was not reflected in the outstanding balance for 2024/25.
40. On 7 May 2025 the Council issued a summons for the tax year 2025/26.
41. On 20 June 2025 the Council sent Ms X a statement of her council tax account for 2025/26. It outlined the total amount Ms X was liable for less adjustments and discount.
42. On 1 July 2025 the Council issued two summonses for the tax year 2024/2025. Ms X said the court hearing in July was adjourned to September 2025.
43. On 1 July 2025 the Council also sent Ms X a statement of her council tax account for the tax year 2024/25. It showed the total amount Ms X was liable for less council tax discretionary relief, discount and other adjustments. Ms X replied to the Council and said the balance on the council tax bill had risen from what she had been advised previously. She added that certain payments she had made were not reflected in the Council’s letter of 1 May 2025. Ms X requested for all payments made to be accurately reflected and sought a detailed explanation for the discrepancies in the council tax liability.
44. On 2 July 2025 Ms X attended a court hearing for the 2025/26 tax year which was adjourned until September 2025.
45. In mid-September 2025 the Council told Ms X her application for council tax support hardship for 2024/25 had been refused – it would only award this for this year’s council tax debt. It told Ms X how she could challenge the Council’s decision.
46. A couple of days later the Council wrote to Ms X about the upcoming court hearing:

• It listed the council tax owed by year, the council tax support Ms X was awarded each year and payments it had received in 2024 and 2025. It said as Ms X had not clarified where her payments made this financial year should be allocated, the Council had now moved all payments to the current financial year (2025/26) instead of 2024/25.
• It said it had withdrawn the summons issued on 7 May 2025 for 2025/26 and the summons issued on 1 July 2025 for 2024/25.
• As a council tax hardship payment had been awarded for 2025/26, the Council had decided to write off the outstanding balance of £323.53 for 2024/25 so that Ms X could focus on paying the balance on the 2025/26 bill.
• It had reset Ms X’s bill to the billing stage as a gesture of goodwill and had issued a new bill for 2025/26.
• It explained it assessed council tax support using income details held by the Department for Work and Pensions. It said the DWP assessed universal credit monthly, so if this award changed, Ms X’s council tax support would also change. This created a new bill with new instalments which Ms X must keep to.
• Ms X must pay exact instalments on or before the payment dates listed and must quote her council tax account number only, as a payment reference. Any additional or different text would mean that payments would not be allocated to her account and on time.

Findings

47. Councils have a duty to collect council tax and the legislation sets out the process to follow in doing so. There is no duty outlined in the legislation to require councils to engage in an alternative dispute resolution process as part of the council tax recovery process. However, given the repeated concerns and changes to Ms X’s council tax bills some direct support may have enabled her to more clearly understand why her council tax bills repeatedly changed and how best to make payments to avoid further recovery action.
48. When council tax payments are not received on or before their due date, councils can issue a reminder and if not paid the full amount becomes due. If it is not paid councils can issue a summons to apply to court for a liability order. The Council said that certain payments Ms X had made were not sent with her council tax account reference which meant that these payments could not be allocated to her council tax account. This led to it issuing summons and applying for a liability order. This was not the Council’s fault. When Ms X provided evidence she had made payments the Council acted appropriately and removed the summons.
49. Ms X’s council tax liability changed several times due to changes in her circumstances and benefit entitlements. As a result, the Council issued bills and set up new payment arrangements. While this was confusing for Ms X, it was not due to Council fault.
50. The Council explained that where payments were made which were not made on or before the due date on the council tax bill or did not align with the amount due as set out on the council tax bill, the system automatically allocated these payments to any previous year’s council debt. It was not fault for the Council to do this. However, it failed to clearly explain this had happened and later moved payments to align with the year in which the payment was made without clearly explaining this to Ms X. This was fault which changed the amount of council tax owed for previous years, led to recovery action and caused Ms X confusion.
51. In its email to Ms X of September 2025 the Council clearly set out the total amount owed and paid by Ms X for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 council tax years. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council calculated the overall amount Ms X owed.
52. The Council told us Ms X had no outstanding balance for the tax year 2023/24 and it had also written off the balance of £323.54 for 2024/25. It also cancelled summons related to the tax years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26. This was appropriate to remedy some of the injustice caused to Ms X. However, I have recommended an additional symbolic payment to acknowledge the additional frustration and uncertainty she was caused.

Back to top

Agreed action

53. Within one month of this decision the Council will apologise to Ms X and pay her £100 to acknowledge the avoidable frustration and uncertainty she was caused. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council will consider this guidance in making the apology.
54. Within two months of this decision the Council will, through a briefing note, remind relevant staff of the importance of clear and timely verbal and written communication in relation to the council tax payment allocation process.
55. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

56. I found fault causing injustice and the Council agreed actions to remedy that injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman