Worcester City Council (25 013 299)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Feb 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X complaint about the name used on a liability order. We do not have the power to investigate matters which have been considered in court.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council obtained a liability order using his middle name instead of his first name. Mr X also complains of poor complaint handling.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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).
- The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about data protection. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council applied to court for a liability order for council tax debts on Mr X’s council tax account. The Council applied using Mr X’s middle and last name, not his first and last name.
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the wrong name being used for the liability order. The order was issued by the court, so we do not have the power to consider this complaint.
- Mr X also complains the Council held incorrect data about him. The Information Commissioner’s Office is the organisation best placed to consider complaints about how organisations handle people’s data and respond to requests for information. It would be reasonable for Mr X to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if he would like to complain about how his data was handled.
- Finally, we will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issues.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint. We do not have the power to investigate matters which have been considered in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman