Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his council tax account. A further investigation is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council breached his human rights and discriminated against him on the grounds of his disabilities. He said he asked for a reduced payment plan for his council tax but was advised to wait until his account reached the collections stage.
2. Mr X said he received a liability order instead, and the liability order costs put him further into debt. He said the Council apologised but did not remove the liability order costs.
3. He said the Council did not investigate his complaint properly. Mr X also complained about having to go through security when he phones the Council.
4. Mr X said the Council should remove the liability order costs and compensate him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
6. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Human Rights Act or the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.

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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. The Council issued a liability order to Mr X for unpaid Council tax. The Council said Mr X then contacted it several times, but it passed his account to an enforcement agent.
10. However, the Council accepted it should not have passed his account to the enforcement agent. It said it should have put him on a special arrangement payment plan due to his disabilities.
11. The Council has now apologised to Mr X and said it will ask the enforcement agent to return the account. It said once the enforcement agent has returned his account, it will put him on a special arrangement payment plan because of his disabilities.
12. The evidence available therefore shows the Council reasonably considered his rights in its handling of his council tax account. However, it is open to Mr X to take the matter to court if he believes the Council breached the Human Rights Act or the Equality Act.
13. It is also open to Mr X to contact the Council about the liability order costs that were added to his council tax account.
14. We note the Council has already explained why customers must answer security questions before an advisor can discuss their account.
15. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling alone as this would not be a good use of our resources.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman