Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his council tax account. Mr X’s complaint is late, and it was reasonable for him to complain sooner. Even if we did investigate, there is no worthwhile outcome we could now achieve.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about the Council’s handling of his council tax account. Mr X says the Council wrongly took enforcement action and is unhappy with the Council's response to his complaint. Mr X wants the Ombudsman to make a finding of fault.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council about its handling of his council tax account in 2006. Mr X was unhappy the Council took enforcement action after he had been declared bankrupt. Mr X wanted the Council to review the payments and enforcements fees and to refund any that were taken unlawfully. Mr X wanted the Council to confirm what records exist showing the information he provided about his bankruptcy. Mr X wanted the Council to pay him compensation.
8. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint. It said due to the length of time elapsed and lack of documentary evidence it could not uphold his complaint or approve a refund or compensation. The Council did identify it was not necessary to have applied for a liability order and so it removed the £70 costs. The Council gave Mr X the opportunity to send further information.
9. We will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint.
10. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. Mr X’s complaint dates back over 20 years. Mr X’s complaint is therefore late. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. While Mr X has given some reasons for only now complaining, I do not think it was unreasonable for Mr X to have complained earlier. We will therefore not investigate.
11. But even if we exercised our discretion and decided to treat Mr X’s complaint as on time, it is not one we would investigate. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable. As the Council has explained, due the time which has elapsed only limited information is available. We could not add anything to the Council’s response or achieve the outcome Mr X wants. Mr X is also unhappy with how the Council refunded the £70 and that it did not include interest. Any injustice from this is not significant enough to warrant our involvement. An investigation is not therefore appropriate.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late. It was reasonable for Mr X to complain sooner and even if we did investigate it would not lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman