Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to give Mr X suitable time to pay his council tax arrears before referring his account to enforcement nor the Council’s failure to respond to the complaint Mr X made about this. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council sent a final notice for council tax arrears via second class post and did not respond to the complaint he raised about this.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained the Council sent a final notice regarding his council tax arrears using second class post on the same day he made a partial payment. He said this did not give him enough time to make the requested payment before the account was passed to enforcement and he had to pay an enforcement fee. He also complained the Council failed to respond to the complaint he made about this.
6. The Council explained that when Mr X made the payment late, the whole balance became due immediately. The Council said it made Mr X aware this would happen when he entered the debt arrangement. The Council said it could not predict or be held responsible for postal service delays and it had been open to Mr X to pay the arrears on the day he received the notice. The Council confirmed it received Mr X’s complaint and logged it to be responded to as part of its process.
7. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s actions and wants us to find it at fault. The evidence shows the Council issued the notice in line with its policy. As Mr X broke the terms of the debt arrangement the Council was entitled to take this action. There is no requirement within the Council’s council tax recovery policy that it use first class post and it was open to Mr X to make the required payment on the day he received the notice. An investigation would therefore be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
8. Mr X has also complained the Council failed to respond to his complaint. The evidence shows the Council was still within 15 working days to respond to his complaint when Mr X made a further complaint, which is in line with the Council’s complaints policy. An investigation would therefore be unlikely to find fault with this aspect of the complaint. In any event, the Ombudsman will not make a finding on a Council’s complaint handling where the substantive complaint is not a matter we will investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman