Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not issue a correct council tax bill for over three years after moving into her property. She says this financially impacted her and distressed her and her family. She would like the Council to amend the bills and reduce or remove the outstanding three year debt. The Council was at fault. It made an error in managing Mrs X’s council tax account, issued a backdated bill without explanation and failed to assess the family’s financial circumstances or agree a payment plan. The Council has agreed to apologise, assess the family’s financial circumstances, agree a payment plan for the outstanding debt and review its payment plan policy

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council did not properly manage her council tax account and failed to tell her what she was liable to pay. She says the Council then issued a bill including three years backdated debt. Mrs X says this financially impacted her and distressed her and her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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 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 investigated

5. I have exercised discretion to consider events in this case back to January 2022. This is because Mrs X only became aware of the issue in April 2025.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
7. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background information

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. 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 (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
11. 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.
12. The Council’s debt recovery and overpayments policy (April 2016) says the Council should consider the following when deciding on appropriate action for debts:
• The validity and evidence for the debt arising
• Whether the debt is in dispute
• Whether the debtor has received the service and accepted the charge
• The financial capacity of the debtor to repay
• The cost effectiveness of recovery action
• The length of time the debt has been in existence
13. The Council’s debt recovery and overpayments policy says the Council will issue a court summons if a council taxpayer does not make full payment of a council tax debt.
14. The Council’s discount and exemptions reviews procedure (July 2017) says the Council should assess the ongoing eligibility of discounts and exemptions from Council Tax.
15. The Council’s complaints process says it should respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days and stage two complaints within 17 working days.

What happened

16. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
17. In January 2022 Mrs X and her family moved into a property in the Council’s area.
18. In February 2022 the Council wrote to Mrs X’s address saying it was reviewing empty properties. Mrs X notified the Council she had moved into the property.
19. In March 2022 the Council recorded it had received no reply to its letter from February 2022 and it was applying a vacant exemption to Mrs X’s property’s council tax account.
20. In March 2025 Mrs X contacted the Council about her council tax bill. The Council identified it had wrongly classified Mrs X’s property as vacant and exempt from council tax.
21. In April 2025 the Council sent Mrs X a 2025/26 council tax bill for approximately £8,000. Mrs X complained to the Council saying the bill was unaffordable and asking the Council to write it off or reduce it. The Council replied saying it had not properly updated the property’s council tax account when Mrs X contacted it in February 2022. It said this meant the account showed as being exempt from payment and no charging bills were issued to Mrs X until April 2025. The Council apologised for the level of council tax bill it had sent Mrs X. It advised her to pay as much as she could and said it could only set up a payment plan after a court summons was issued.
22. Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint in May 2025. She said her family were first time house buyers who had not been familiar with the council tax process. She said they could not afford the first monthly payment and asked for a separate council tax bill for 2025/26. She asked the Council to either reconsider or write off the Council Tax charges due from 2022 to 2024.
23. The Council issued its stage 2 complaint response at the beginning of July 2025. It said the outstanding council tax balances had been combined in the 2025/26 council tax bill and it could not issue a separate 2025/26 bill. It said it would not write off any payments, but agreed to put a hold on Mrs X’s council tax account until August 2025 as a goodwill gesture.
24. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. She would like the Council to write off or reduce the council tax payments for 2022 to 2024 and issue a separate bill for 2025/26.
25. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it had not acted appropriately in seeking full debt recovery from Mrs X and should have engaged with her earlier to arrange a payment plan. It said it would contact Mrs X to discuss a suitable payment arrangement and review its procedures on multi-year debt collection.

My findings

Council tax

26. The Council incorrectly recorded Mrs X’s property was exempt from council tax from February 2022 to March 2025. It then billed Mrs X for the full outstanding debt with no explanation in April 2025. This is fault, distressing Mrs X.
27. The Council was at fault in allowing the council tax debt to reach the level it did before it billed Mrs X for the full amount. The bill distressed Mrs X. However, Mrs X is liable to pay the council tax. I cannot say she does not owe the Council the full outstanding debt.
28. Paragraph 12 says the Council should assess the debtor’s financial capacity to pay when deciding on appropriate action. The Council did not assess Mrs X’s ability to pay the full outstanding debt. This is fault, distressing Mrs X.
29. Paragraph 13 says the Council will issue a court summons if a council tax debtor does not pay the debt in full. The Council told Mrs X it could not agree a payment plan until a court summons had been issued. We would not expect someone should have to go through the court process to establish an affordable payment plan. This is fault, distressing Mrs X. The Council has accepted it should have discussed a payment plan with Mrs X.

Complaint handling

30. Paragraph 15 says the Council should respond to a stage two complaint within 17 working days. Mrs Y made a stage two complaint in May 2025. The Council responded in July 2025, a five-week delay. This is fault, frustrating Mrs X.

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Action

31. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mrs X by the faults the Council has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the distress caused by not properly managing her council tax account and issuing a backdated bill without explanation and for the frustration caused by the delays in the complaint handling. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Complete a financial assessment of Mrs X’s family and agree a payment plan for the outstanding council tax debt.
32. The Council has agreed to take the following action within two months of my final decision:
• Review its debt recovery and repayments policy to allow payment plans to be agreed before a court summons is issued.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

34. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault by the Council which caused injustice to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman