Bedford Borough Council (25 022 857)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s use of enforcement action to recoup Mrs X’s unpaid council tax.
This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained the Council took disproportionate enforcement action against her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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, or
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X complained the Council took disproportionate enforcement action against her for unpaid council tax.
- The Council sent correspondence regarding the debt to the address recorded on her account and began enforcement action when it did not receive payment. When it received the correspondence back unread, it searched for her new address and ceased the recovery action.
- Mrs X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions. The evidence shows the Council took enforcement action when it did not receive payment for the council tax. It was Mrs X’s responsibility to update her address and to pay her council tax. The Council has since ceased recovery action, and she was not put to financial loss. An investigation into this matter would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman