Horsham District Council (19 002 750)
Category : Benefits and tax > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Oct 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s use of bailiffs to enforce a council tax debt. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s use of bailiffs to enforce a council tax debt.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X says that the Council’s bailiffs visited him and upset his wife who suffers from depression. He says the Council unreasonably refused his offer of weekly payments.
- The Council says that, when it became aware of his wife’s vulnerability, it instructed the bailiff not to carry out any further visits.
- I am satisfied that the Council properly considered Mr X’s comments and it was complying with guidance in advising the bailiff not to carry out further visits.
- The Council says that the bailiffs assessed its decision as to the fairness of the repayment rate upon the Money Advice Trust’s Common Financial Statement and concluded that Mr X’s offer of repayment was too low.
- It is not for the Ombudsman to decide what a fair repayment rate is; he can only question this if the Council has not properly considered the income available and expenditure. I am satisfied that the Council properly considered the facts available in reaching its decision and so the Ombudsman could not question the repayment amount requested.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman