Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about liability of business rates and the Council’s decision to take enforcement action. This is because part of the complaint is late, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about a business rates bill he has received from the Council. He says he is not liable for this bill.
2. Mr Y also complains about the Council’s decision to take enforcement action against him for the unpaid bill, and its later decision to pass the debt to enforcement agents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr Y disputes his liability for a business rates bill he received in 2015. The Council issued a summons letter to Mr Y in November 2016, and a liability order was granted in December 2016. We will not investigate this part of the complaint because it is late. We expect a person to complain to us within 12 months of being aware of a matter and Mr Y did not complain to us until January 2026. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate this complaint now. I understand Mr Y disputes liability for the bill, but he was aware of the court hearing and could have attended to argue his case.
10. The more time passes between the events and a complaint, the more unlikely it is we can investigate them effectively, gather reliable evidence and reach a sound decision. In older cases we also may not be able to achieve a meaningful remedy because too many circumstances have changed. We are often unable to be able to show why events occurred or understand who was responsible.
11. Even if this part of the complaint was not late, my decision not to investigate would be the same as we cannot investigate complaints where there has been a commencement of proceedings before any court of law.
12. Mr Y also complains about the Council’s decision to take enforcement action against him to pursue the debt, later passing the unpaid debt to enforcement agents. The Council sent warning letters to Mr Y in September 2024 and October 2024 to advise him of this. It also sent him an email about this in April 2025. I am satisfied the Council followed the correct procedures. We will not investigate this part of the complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.
13. The Council was entitled to pass the unpaid debt to enforcement agents to retrieve money it is owed.
14. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether a person disagrees with the decision the organisation made.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because part of the complaint is late, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman