City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (25 011 368)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about enforcement of a Council tax debt because the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council obtained an attachment of earnings order to enforce a Council tax debt despite his legal order (Individual Voluntary Arrangement – IVA) preventing any further enforcement of these debts.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he obtained an IVA in April 2025 but an attachment of earnings order was obtained against him by the Council in May 2025.
- The Council says that they only received the IVA on 2 June and processed it on 27 June. The Council confirmed that two attachment of earnings payments had been deducted from his wages by June 2025. The Council asked the employer to cancel the orders and confirm that the payments had been made (so they could be refunded to Mr X). The employer initially declined as the request was not dated but the Council says it amended the request immediately. Nevertheless, the Council says that the two payments occurred before the Council could process it.
- The Council apologised for the delay in requesting the employer’s information about the first payment. I note there was a delay in the first refund but I consider the apology to be a remedy to this part of the complaint. I note that the second refund was delayed because the employer did not respond to this.
- For these reasons I am satisfied that there are no grounds to investigate this matter further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matter has been remedied to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman