Summary: Ms X complains about the way the Council enforced a Council tax debt. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the way the Council enforced a Council tax debt.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.,

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What I found

4. Ms X owed Council tax for which the Council obtained a Liability Order. The bailiffs say that they were instructed by the Council to enforce the debt in February 2019. It says that, a notice of enforcement was sent to her in April (which led to a £75 compliance fee).
5. The complainant agreed a repayment of £50 per month and Ms X contacted the Council to say a direct debit would be set up.
6. The bailiffs say that no direct debit was used and they had to text Ms X to remind her to make separate payments each month. The bailiffs say that a payment was missed in August which meant that the arrangement became void and a visit was made to her property
7. Ms X says that the bailiff was rude to her and would not accept her vulnerability. I cannot say whether nor not the bailiff was rude but I note that the bailiff has removed the enforcement visit fee (of £235) so this seems a reasonable settlement of this part of the complaint. Arrangements remain for the continued collection of £50 per month.
8. Ms X says that she found contacting and making regular payments to the bailiffs difficult because of technology failures. However, there is no evidence to show that the bailiffs are responsible for the failure of the direct debit and I note that payments were nevertheless made by Ms X.
9. I appreciate that Ms X has found repayments difficult but I am not persuaded that the Council or bailiffs have acted with fault in the way the debt has been enforced. In the absence of procedural fault, it is not for the Ombudsman to question the merits of the Council‘s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman