Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about council tax liability and the Council’s delay in issuing a council tax bill. Mr X can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for the first part of his complaint. An investigation into the second part of is complaint is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council delayed issuing him a council tax bill when he moved houses in 2023. He said he notified the Council when he moved, but he did not receive a council tax bill until 2025.
2. Mr X disputes his liability for the backdated charges. He says the charges only arose due to the Council’s delays. He would like the Council to cancel his council tax liability or reduce the backdated charges for the period between 2023 and 2025.
3. Mr X would also like the Council to apologise for the late billing, improve its billing processes, offer him compensation and confirm that it will not take any enforcement or recovery action for the backdated charges.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability or council tax reduction.

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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. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about his liability for the backdated council tax charges. Any dispute about council tax liability can be appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal is an independent body which can determine any dispute about such decisions, and we consider it reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal.
10. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s late billing because a further investigation is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.
11. The Council has already apologised and accepted fault for the delay in issuing a new bill after Mr X moved to a new address. It said that the delay was caused by an administrative error.
12. We note the Council acknowledged the impact its delay had on Mr X’s wellbeing. It also said it has reminded staff to make sure they open a new council tax account after they have closed an old one.
13. However, the Council said Mr X remains liable for the backdated charges, but it offered him an extended payment plan to pay the charges.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal about his liability for the backdated council tax charges. We will not investigate the second part of his complaint because a further investigation is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman