Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax liability and recovery. Part of the complaint is late, and we cannot investigate the matters that Ms X has appealed. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council regarding recent recovery and a credit transfer.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council has unfairly pursued council tax recovery for a sole account and enforcement agents visited her forcing payment in January 2025. The Council is also pursuing council tax for a joint account for periods 2023-2024 when she has paid, but other liable parties have not paid. She says this has severely affected her mental health.
2. Miss X also says the Council refused to refund or transfer a credit on her account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 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).
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
6. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B)).

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about a visit by the Council’s enforcement agent in January 2025 for Ms X’s sole council tax account. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman in March 2026 about this matter. Ms X’s complaint is late and there is no good reason for this.
9. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about her liability for council tax for the joint account. This is because Ms X has appealed to the Valuation Tribunal and we are not permitted to investigate the same matter.
10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council refused to transfer a credit on her sole account to the joint account, or regarding recent recovery action. The Council confirmed it transferred a credit of £77 to the joint account in March 2026. The Council has held recovery while Ms X’s appeal is outstanding. It has also removed summons and liability order costs on the sole account. The Council considered Ms X’s complaint that it had not taken account of her vulnerability. The Council said it had not received the required evidence to assess this. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because part of it is late. We cannot investigate the matters Ms X has appealed. There is not enough evidence of fault regarding recent matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman