Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s communications with Mrs X about street trading fees as part of the complaint is made late and there are not good reasons to investigate now and there is insufficient evidence of fault or fault causing Mrs X a significant injustice to justify our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains in 2021 the Council failed to respond to her requests for it to clarify the status of her street trading licence. Miss X complains that she received a debt collection letter in July 2025 for outstanding fees for the street trading pitch but that the Council had never issued her with any invoices prior to this. Mrs X says this has caused her stress. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to respond to her stage one complaint. Mrs X does not consider the Council should be pursuing the invoices from several years ago and wants it to cancel them.

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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 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)

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, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In its complaint response to Mrs X, the Council said it was satisfied that invoices were sent to her in 2021 but acknowledged that records were not available now to confirm this. The Council said though that its records did show that an email was sent to Mrs X in December 2021 with a final balance owing. It says Mrs X did not respond to this.
7. We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mrs X in 2021 as this complaint is made late to us, that is, not within a year of Mrs X knowing about the problem. Mrs X has not explained why she did not complain to us at the time. I do not consider there are good reasons to investigate this late complaint now.
8. I recognise that Mrs X is unhappy to receive the bill for outstanding charges from several years ago but there is no indication in her complaint that this money is not owed or that there is fault in the Council requesting it from her. In the absence of such fault, there are not grounds for us to investigate. The Council has a duty to collect money owed to it, for the benefit of all its taxpayers.
9. I appreciate that Mrs X remains unhappy that the Council did not respond to her stage one complaint but any fault by the Council regarding this did not cause Mrs X a level of injustice that would warrant our involvement.
10. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because part is made late and there are not good reasons to investigate now and there is insufficient evidence of fault or fault causing Mrs X a significant injustice to justify our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman