Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about enforcement of a Council tax debt because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council obtained an Attachment of Earnings Order against her for unpaid Council tax despite her difficulty in paying her other debts.

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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 she started paying £1 per week in March 2024 towards her Council tax as she had difficulty paying her other bills. The Council decided in March 2025 to obtain an Attachment of Earnings Order from her wages to pay the arears which had accrued.
6. The Council says that they asked her to complete an earnings and expenditure questionnaire and provide bank statements to see if the order should be amended but Ms X had not completed and returned the form.
7. If the taxpayer is in PAYE employment an attachment of earnings order (AOE) can be served. Up to two council tax AOEs may be served on one individual at any one time. The form of the order is laid out in the A&E Regulations.
8. Council tax AOEs are not like county court or Child Support Agency AOEs. The order is served by the council, at its discretion, not by the court. Any appeal against the order is to the council, and there is no further appeal from the council. Deductions are a fixed percentage of the wages and are set by statute (the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 SI 295 Schedule 5). The only discretions the council has are to make the order, not make the order, or stop an existing order. The payments are collected by the employer. Once an order is paid the council must write and tell the employer.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
10. I am satisfied that the Council’s enforcement of the debt is not fault. The Council considered its discretion as to the means of repayment but in the absence of any further evidence provided by Ms X, the Council’s decision to continue the method of recovery is not fault. The Ombudsman cannot therefore be critical of the Council’s actions and we will not investigate this complaint further.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman