Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about enforcement of a Council tax debt because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council pursued Council tax enforcement after sending correspondence to the wrong address.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X says that the Council sent Council tax arrears letters to her old address resulting in a summons (with costs) which she could not defend as she was unaware of the correspondence.
6. The Council says that the last known address for her was in a document in 2016 at the billed address and no update had been received from Ms X since then. It says that the law requires the Council to issue the bills to the last known address.
7. Ms X says that she assumed the bill would be sent to a different address. She says that she tried to notify the Council of her current address (when a tenant had moved out) but the online form did not allow this.
8. The Ombudsman could only be critical of a Council’s actions where there has been evidence of fault. I am not satisfied that the Council’s actions, in the absence of a clear updated address from Ms X, constitute fault. There are no grounds therefore for the Ombudsman to investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman