Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about costs added to a council tax account as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about additional costs the Council added to his council tax account and disputes that the Council’s enforcement agents (bailiffs) visited his home. Mr X considers he has overpaid backdated council tax he was paying off, and he seeks a refund in respect of this. Mr X says he has been caused emotional and financial distress.

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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 or continue 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))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Sometime around or just prior to 2019, the Council set up a payment agreement for Mr X to pay off council tax. The Council says that Mr X did not begin to make payments until 2020 and because of this the debt was passed to its bailiffs to recover. This resulted in additional costs being added to the account of £546 which included compliance fees of £225 for three liability orders passed to the bailiffs and a fee for a bailiff visit to the address Mr X lived at in 2019. These fees were added to the arrears total Mr X needed to pay. The Council explained this to Mr X in its stage one complaint response in 2025, when Mr X came to believe he had overpaid.
7. I recognise Mr X remains unhappy, but we will not investigate as there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The law provides a schedule of fees for bailiff enforcement which was applied in Mr X’s case. The Council has also provided a record which indicates a bailiff visit did take place in 2019, to Mr X’s home address at the time.
8. Should Mr X continue to dispute the fees, he may be able to challenge them in court as there is a specific legal process provided to facilitate this. Mr X would however need to seek independent advice regarding taking such action.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman