Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about council tax liability. The Council has applied for a Liability Order, and the law prevents us from investigating complaints about the start of court action or what happened in court. For the rest, it was reasonable to expect Miss X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council has removed a council tax reduction it previously applied to her account and has now issued a court summons.
2. Miss X also said the Council wrongly calculated her council tax overpayment after applying the council tax reduction to her account backdated to 2021.
3. Miss X said this caused distress.
4. Miss X wants the Council to cancel the court summons and properly calculate the council tax overpayment it owes her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
7. 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)
8. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by Miss X.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. We cannot investigate the part of Miss X’s complaint about the Council issuing a court summons for non-payment of council tax. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint about liability order proceedings from the issue of the summons to the making of the order.
12. For the rest, we consider our powers on what we could achieve as part of our consideration of whether an alternative remedy exists and whether it is reasonable for a person to use it.
13. Disputes about council tax liability can be appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. The Valuation Tribunal is an independent body which can determine any disputes about liability, discounts or exemptions from council tax. 
14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council has wrongly calculated her council tax overpayments since 2021. We cannot decide council tax liability, so it was reasonable for Miss X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

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Final decision

15. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about the start of court action or what happened in court. For the rest, it was reasonable to expect Miss X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman