Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of the complainant’s business rates account. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner about the direct debit cancellations in 2023, and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council in relation to events from 2024 onwards.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his business rates account, particularly the lack of adequate explanation for its rejection of his direct debits. Mr X says the Council’s failure to provide timely, transparent, and effective communication, has resulted in ongoing unnecessary enforcement threats and administrative burdens for his company.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. And we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The 12-month time restriction, detailed in paragraph 4 above, applies to the parts of the complaint about the cancellations of the direct debit in 2023. This is because the issue first arose in mid‑2023, with a reminder notice and summons issued in August and September 2023 respectively, and further correspondence between Mr X and the Council between September and November 2023. I understand the direct debit was cancelled for a second time in November 2023, when the instruction was again returned by Mr X’s bank. Yet Mr X did not contact the Ombudsman until June 2025. I see no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate this late part of the complaint now.
7. With regard to events since early-2024, the Ombudsman will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:
• Councils’ automated systems will normally allocate payments according to some simple rules. Usually, payments which are exactly equal to instalments or exact multiples of instalments will be allocated to the year's liability they match. If someone has arrears and a current debt, and then pays a random sum, the system will often allocate it to the arrears first.
• The Council’s Stage 1 and 2 complaint responses provide a detailed explanation of the recovery process in this case, how Mr X’s payments have been allocated to his arrears and current debts, and the amounts which remain outstanding. In particular, the Council notes Mr X’s payments have been paid later than the scheduled due date, and the amount being paid is more than the prescribed amount.
• The Council has also explained how Mr X may attempt to set up a direct debit again. If problems continue, then it is open to him to contact his bank to try to resolve this.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have contacted us sooner about the direct debit cancellations in 2023, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the business rates account since early-2024.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman