Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of council tax matters. This is because most of the complaint is late, and for more recent matters there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation. We cannot investigate part of the complaint as it relates to court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council is pursuing significant council tax arrears from previous years but has not properly considered her family’s circumstances. She complained about council tax reductions, council tax exemptions, and discretionary housing payment claims. She also complains about the Council’s issue of summonses. She says the Council’s recovery action is causing her significant financial hardship and anxiety.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended).
4. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
5. 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).

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. (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. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in March 2025 about the Council’s actions from 2009 to 2024. She said the Council amongst other things had:
• made procedural errors when issuing summonses for council tax.
• failed to apply the correct council tax reductions and unfairly refused discretionary housing payments
• did not consider using its discretion to reduce her council tax due to hardship.
• failed to apply student and severe mental impairment exemptions
• reduced a housing benefit credit by £1200 to pay council tax arrears in 2019
• failed to assist her or consider her disability when pursuing council tax arrears
8. Mrs X also complained a Council’s enforcement agent had disclosed information about her family in public.
9. In its complaint responses in June and November 2024 the Council said it had followed the correct administrative processes. It set out the council tax reduction claims and exemptions it had considered and the reasons Mrs X was not entitled. It had refused a DHP claim and explained Mrs X had not made a claim for a discretionary reduction in council tax due to hardship. The Council said it had not reduced the housing benefit credit for council tax arrears, but for a housing benefit overpayment. The Council said it did not employ the enforcement agent Mrs X complained about.
10. The Council noted Mrs X’s current difficult circumstances. It invited Mrs X to claim a council tax reduction based on her income and to complete an income and expenditure form so it could consider its recovery action.
11. I consider that most Mrs X’s complaints relate to matters she was aware of before 2022 and are therefore late. I do not consider there are good reasons why Mrs X did not complain to the Ombudsman until March 2025. Therefore, I will not exercise our discretion to investigate these complaints.
12. In addition, the Council’s decisions on council tax reduction claims and exemptions were appealable to the Valuation Tribunal. I consider it was reasonable to expect Mrs X to have appealed.
13. Mrs X complains of fault in the council tax summonses. However, as I explain in paragraph 5, we cannot investigate this as it is the start of court action.
14. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s more recent actions from 2024 to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there are no good reasons for it being late. It was reasonable to expect her to appeal the Council’s decisions and we cannot investigate the start of court proceedings. There is not enough evidence of fault for an investigation about the Council’s recent actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman