Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s council tax account. Parts of the complaint are late. There is no significant injustice warranting investigation, for more recent matters and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X seeks.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council
• Took unlawful court action because it did not send the correct notices
• Failed to respond to confirm certain payments she said she had made.
• Took recovery action including issuing threatening letters
• Breached data protection rules because it deleted her online council tax account.
• Unfairly charged £6.52 costs for 2020
• Used enforcement agents who assaulted her in 2022.
2. This caused her distress and anxiety. She seeks an apology, removal of fees and procedural changes as well as financial compensation of £2500.

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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 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).

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. 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

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
8. The Council replied that
• It had sent the correct notices to Ms X in accordance with council tax regulations. This led to a summons in 2020 and £80 costs.
• It had received payments Ms X stated apart from £220 in November 2025.
• It had deleted Ms X’s online account in error, but it had reinstated this within 4 days. It apologised but did not consider this was severe or a security risk.
• It had not received information about Ms X’s complaint that an enforcement agent assaulted her in 2022.
• It would remove the court costs of £86.52 as a gesture of goodwill.
9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about added costs of £6.52 in 2020 or the alleged assault in 2022. These complaints are late because Ms X was aware of these matters more than 12 months before her complaint to the Ombudsman and there are no good reasons for this. The alleged assault would also likely be a matter for the Police.
10. We cannot investigate the summons and liability order and the added costs as these are court proceedings, and we are unable to investigate these matters as I explain in paragraph 5.
11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council deleted her online account because the injustice from this is not significant enough to warrant our involvement. The error was corrected within four days and Ms X access to the account was not affected. We cannot achieve the financial remedy Ms X seeks.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because part of it is late, we cannot investigate court action and there is no significant injustice to warrant investigation into recent matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman