Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s council tax account. Part of the complaint is late with no good reasons to investigate it now, and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in its handling of more recent matters.

The complaint

1. Mr X says he contacted the Council for help with benefits and non-payment of council tax. Mr X complains the Council refused to help him.
2. Mr X wants the Council to stop recovery of the debt he owes. He wants the Council to adjust the amount owed to a sum he feels would be reasonable had the council given him the support he needed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr X complains about the support offered by the council about his council tax account. His does not reference any specific decisions he disagrees with or provide any grounds for disputing the arrears on his account, but he believes the Council should write them off.
10. Mr X moved out of the Council’s area in 2020, so any complaint about this issue and the Council’s determination of Mr X’s eligibility for any discounts, exemptions or reductions is clearly late. I have seen no good reasons for the delay in bringing the complaint to us and I will not therefore exercise our discretion to investigate further.
11. The Council has continued to seek recovery of the outstanding balances of Mr X’s accounts and Mr X’s complaint about its more recent actions from the 12 months before he came to us are not late. I have however seen insufficient evidence of fault in its handling of the case over this period to warrant investigation.
12. Councils who want to recover unpaid council tax may ask the magistrate’s court for a liability order against people it thinks owe it the money. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed. We cannot investigate any complaint about an application for a liability order for the reasons set out at Paragraph 6.
13. Councils should be prepared to work directly with someone who owes money at any point and can stop enforcement action at any time. In the council’s complaint acknowledgement and response, it confirms it arranged a meeting with Mr X to discuss arrears but Mr X did not attend.
14. We cannot say Mr X does not owe the outstanding amounts claimed by the Council or say it must not continue to try to recover payment. Council tax is public money and the Council has an obligation to collect it. Mr X has his reasons for not paying but this does not mean the Council must write the debt off. The Council has offered Mr X opportunities to discuss his case further and he should engage with the Council to resolve the issue.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because his concerns about the Council’s handling of his council tax account are late with no good reasons for the delay and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in its more recent actions to recover payment to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman