Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax recovery. Part of the complaint is late. We cannot investigate the liability matters because Mr X has appealed. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s more recent actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council has unfairly pursued council tax recovery for arrears from 2017. He says that he is not liable, and the Council ignored his vulnerability. He asks the Council to remove summons and enforcement fees.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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).
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, 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

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
7. The Council did not uphold the complaint. It said that recovery action was carried out correctly. The Council noted that once it became aware of Mr X’s vulnerability, it paused recovery, and recalled the debt was from its enforcement agents, and a special payment arrangement was put in place.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council actions before March 2025. This is because his complaint is late as it relates to matters he was aware of by December 2024 when he first complained to the Council. I have seen no good reason for the delay in complaining to the Ombudsman.
9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council was incorrect to make him liable for council tax. This is because Mr X has appealed to the Valuation Tribunal and we are unable to consider these matters.
10. We will not investigate how the Council handled recovery and considered Mr X’s vulnerability from March 2025 because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigation. The Council says that it requested supporting evidence from Mr X and it withdrew the account from its agents when it received the required information. It advised the court and enforcement costs had been correctly charged.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of it is late. We cannot investigate the liability matters because Mr X has appealed. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council handling of more recent matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman