Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled the complainant’s council tax. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the Council’s handling of her council tax account. She says there have been multiple failures which have caused stress and wasted her time. She wants compensation of £6597.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 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

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and email exchanges. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council has taken recovery action against Mrs X for council tax arrears. The court issued liability orders and Mrs X has incurred costs. The Council withdrew some of the costs, set up special arrangements, and re-calculated Mrs X’s instalments several times.
5. Mrs X complains of multiple failures including recovery action based on errors, inaccurate letters and inconsistencies.
6. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient of fault by the Council. I have considered the complaint correspondence which shows that, whilst Mrs X pays the council tax, her payments are often late and do not match the amount on the bill or the special arrangements. Council tax is a largely automated process and when people do not pay as billed, in terms of the date or the amount, then recovery action can be swift and can lead to the instalments having to be re-set which can cause confusion. Council tax problems can usually be avoided if the tax payer pays as billed. Although Mrs X is very critical of the Council I have not seen anything requiring an investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman