Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council employing enforcement agents to recover a council tax debt and the charges made by the agents for breaching a payment agreement. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation because the complainant has not provided sufficient information to the Council for it to respond to his complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about charges incurred by the Council passing his council tax arrears case to enforcement agents (bailiffs) following a court liability order. He says he made payments for a payment plan with the bailiffs but they told him he had broken the agreement and would incur further charges for a bailiffs visit. He wants the Council to take the case back from the bailiffs and remove any charges added by their involvement.

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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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he was told by bailiffs recovering council tax arrears that he had failed to keep to a payment agreement and that he would incur further charges as this would warrant a visit by an agent to his home. He says the payments have been made, although the agency’s letter says he made a late payment.
6. Mr X made a complaint to the Council about employing agents and the charges which they have made. Councils refer debts for council tax which are subject to liability orders from the magistrates court to enforcement agents as a matter of course due to the numbers of cases involved. The charges which they make are not set by the Council or the agency but are determined by government legislation.
7. We cannot investigate complaints about matters which have been subject to court orders. The Council asked Mr X to provide more details about the payments he had made and the arrangement with the bailiffs. It told us that to date Mr X has not provided this information and so it cannot give a final view on his complaint.
8. We will not investigate this compalint. Mr X could submit further information to the Council if he wants it to make a final decision on his complaint. He may be able to submit a new complaint to us once this process is completed if he is dissatisfied with the outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council employing enforcement agents to recover a council tax debt and the charges made by the agents for breaching a payment agreement. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation because the complainant has not provided sufficient information to the Council for it to respond to his complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman