Summary: Mr C says the Council wrongly used enforcement agents to pursue council tax arrears, as he is a vulnerable debtor. The Council has correctly considered whether it is appropriate to use enforcement agents and has decided it is. The council tax debt is rightly due, and the Council has a duty to recover it. The Council has offered Mr C assistance by entering payment arrangements, referring him for independent debt advice, and sending him application forms for financial assistance. There is no fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr C, says he agreed a payment plan of £10 per month with enforcement agents, but they went back on the agreement and asked for £10 per fortnight. Mr C has asked for the video footage to prove what was agreed; but this has been refused. Mr C says he told the Council about his anxiety and depression, but it still referred his case to enforcement agents. The enforcement agents have threatened to change his locks, which has made his anxiety worse.
2. The Council, and enforcement agents, ask for amounts that he cannot realistically pay. Mr C has applied for discretionary support, but the Council says it was never received. Mr C does not want to deal with the enforcement agents, and just wants to set up a realistic payment plan with the Council. He says the reason he has not made payments previously is because the Council has said they would not be enough to stop enforcement. It is very stressful for Mr C; he suffers from anxiety and depression and the bailiff visits make it worse.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered:
• Information provided by Mr C, including during a telephone conversation.
• Information provided by the Council, including its ‘corporate debt management strategy’.
• Video footage from the enforcement agents.
• The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013.
• ‘Taking Control of Goods: National Standards’ published by the Ministry of Justice’.
7. I shared a draft of this statement with both parties. The Council agreed with the findings; Mr C did not reply.

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What I found

8. Council tax is a tax levied on households by local authorities in Britain. Each year the council will set its rates for April to March. The council will send each household a bill explaining what the rate is, and the monthly instalments you must pay. You are usually asked to pay over ten instalments.
9. If you do not pay an instalment of council tax on the date it is due, the council will send a reminder, asking for payment in seven days. If you fail to pay, you lose your right to pay in instalments and the full amount becomes payable. The council will send a second reminder, after which it will issue a court summons and liability order. Court costs can be added to your council tax account.
10. Councils then have a range of ways in which they can recover council tax debts, including referring the debt to enforcement agents (bailiffs) for collection.

What happened

11. Mr C has council tax arrears for the 2016/2017 council tax year, which the Council has sent to enforcement agents to collect. The enforcement agents act for the Council; we can consider their actions in accordance with paragraph four.
12. Mr C says he agreed to pay back £10 per month, but the enforcement agents wrongly recorded it as £20 per month. I have watched the video footage. Mr C clearly says he can only afford to pay £10 per month. The enforcement agent clearly says the minimum he can accept is £20 per month. At the end of the conversation Mr C says “that’s fine then, I’ll do that”. The implication is that he will stick to the payment arrangement, which the enforcement agent was very clear was £20 per month.
13. Mr C says he has asked to see the footage and the Council has refused. The Council says the enforcement agents asked Mr C to send evidence to verify his identity so that it could release the footage; Mr C has not done so.
14. Mr C says he has mental health problems which makes him vulnerable, so the enforcement agents are not able to collect goods from him and the Council should recall the case from enforcement agents.
15. Mr C’s view is not backed up by law and guidance. Councils can use enforcement agents where the debtor is in a potentially vulnerable situation. The Council must consider whether it is appropriate to do so, and if it chooses to go ahead, it must tell the enforcement agent about the situation. When a debtor is identified as vulnerable, the Council must have a clear agreement with the enforcement agent about the approach they should take. The Council should be prepared to take back the case, at any time, if necessary.
16. The Council considers it is still appropriate for enforcement agents to collect the debt, and that it is not necessary to recall the case. The Council explains Mr C’s case is with the ‘welfare team’ of the enforcement agents because of Mr C’s vulnerability. The welfare team are trained to deal with vulnerable people. Payments can be made to the enforcement agents using the same methods that could be used to pay the Council.
17. Mr C has council tax arrears for the 2018/2019 year, the account is currently on hold, so the Council is not currently taking any recovery action. I do not know the situation for the 2019/2020 year, but if Mr C has not been making payment then this will also be in arrears.
18. There is no debt for the 2017/2018 year because the Council awarded Mr C a discretionary housing payment, which covered the arrears. I asked the Council about any possible assistance for the outstanding debts. The Council explained Mr C applied for council tax hardship in November 2017, asking it to be backdated for the 2016/2017 year. If a request is made for backdating a payment, the Council will consider whether there are exceptional circumstances to award hardship payments from this year’s finances for a previous year. The Council did not award a council tax hardship payment for the 2016/2017 year. The Council says there was no information or evidence for it to conclude Mr C’s situation was exceptional, so no reason to backdate an award. It awarded council tax hardship for the 2017/2018 year as that was the current year.
19. The Council says it has not received an application for a discretionary housing payment from Mr C for the 2018/2019 year, despite sending him the forms. Mr C says he returned the form, but when the Council said it didn’t receive it, he has not pursued it further. The Council says it has referred Mr C for debt advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, Mr C says he has not pursued it further, though he accepts he probably should have done.
20. Mr C says he has not made payments as per the payment arrangements because the Council said it would not stop recovery action. The amounts the Council and enforcement agents are now asking for, are more than he can afford to pay.
21. If Mr C cannot repay the debts, the Council can consider other recovery options such as bankruptcy, a charging order against your property if you own it or applying for committal to prison.

Was there fault causing injustice?

22. Mr C accepts he has council tax arrears, because he has not made the necessary payments. The Council has a legal duty to recover council tax debts and can use enforcement agents.
23. When the Council first referred the case to enforcement agents, it was not aware of Mr C’s vulnerability. When Mr C told the Council, it properly considered whether it was appropriate for the case to remain with the enforcement agents or should be recalled. I can see no reason to criticise the Council’s judgement not to recall Mr C’s case, given he is being dealt with by a welfare team and can use the same payment methods to pay off the debt as he could with the Council. If Mr C keeps to a payment arrangement, then there will be no reason for an enforcement officer to visit.
24. It is appropriate for the enforcement agents to ask for proof of identity before releasing video footage, this should not be difficult for Mr C to comply with if he wishes to see the footage.
25. Although Mr C was clear with the enforcement agent that he could only afford to pay back £10 per month, by the end of the conversation the implication was that Mr C had agreed to pay £20 per month. This might not have been Mr C’s intention, but from watching the video footage I cannot say there is fault by the enforcement agents in thinking that was the case. However, I recognise that Mr C might have felt forced to agree something he knew he couldn’t afford, even though I do not consider the enforcement agent was threatening or forceful.
26. Mr C is not making payments because it will not stop the enforcement action, however this will make his situation worse. Mr C is now in debt for more than just the 2016/2017 year, and the Council will have to look at recovery action for the 2018/2019 year and the 2019/2020 year if it is not paid. I appreciate it is becoming increasingly difficult for Mr C to repay the debts. Because he is not making payments, the amount due increases and the time period for this council tax year decreases. There is the current years liability, as well as debts from previous years. As a minimum, Mr C should be paying the current years liability, and applying for assistance if he cannot afford it. The debts will keep accumulating, and charges will also be added. Council tax is legally due, and the Council has a duty to recover it.
27. The Council has offered support by agreeing payment arrangements, referring Mr C for debt advice and sending forms for a discretionary housing payment. It is not the Council’s fault it did not receive Mr C’s application for support, Mr C should resend an application as soon as possible. As we are now into the 2019/2020 council tax year, Mr C will need to show exceptional circumstances for the Council to backdate an award for the 2018/2019 year. I would also urge Mr C to seek some independent advice from an agency such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, Money Advice Service, or if getting out for assistance is difficult he could try telephone assistance such as the National Debtline.
28. If the Council has not already done so, it should ask Mr C to complete an income and expenditure form, so it can assess what would be a reasonable amount for him to pay based on his financial circumstances. One of the bodies mentioned in the above paragraph can help Mr C provide the Council with this information.

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Final decision

29. I have completed my investigation. There is no fault by the Council, it has followed the correct process to recover council tax arrears.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman