Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the handling of her council tax account. We do not have the power to investigate matters that have been considered in court.

The complaint’

1. Miss X complains the Council mishandled her council tax account. She says the Council’s calculation of her arrears has been unclear and it did not pause enforcement while she disputed the amount. Miss X also complains the Council did not respond properly to her data request.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
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)
5. 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)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
7. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about personal data. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about misuse of personal data or freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. We normally expect people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. Miss X complained to us in October 2025. I have seen no reason why Miss X could not have complained to us about matters arising prior to October 2024 sooner. We will therefore consider matters arising after October 2024.
11. The court granted liability orders for Miss X’s 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 council tax arrears. Because a court has decided Miss X is liable for the council tax, we cannot investigate any complaint Miss X has about her liability for these arrears.
12. If Miss X disagrees with the Council’s decisions about discounts or exemptions, she has a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. It would have been reasonable for Miss X to use that route.
13. Part of Miss X’s complaint is about the Council’s response to her data request. 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. In the absence of a wider complaint within our remit, there is not a good reason for us to consider the matter instead.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. We do not have the power to investigate matters that have been considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman