The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council issued an Attachment of Earnings Order without adjusting the complainant’s account to reflect he had moved and that it did not send the order to the new address. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council did not adjust his council tax after he moved. He also says the Council sent an Attachment of Earnings Order (AEO) to the wrong address. Mr X wants an apology, a refund and at least £25,000 in compensation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
The court can issue a liability order for council tax arrears. Once a liability order has been issued the Council can recover the arrears by asking the employer to make deductions from the person’s pay (AEO).
Mr X has council tax arrears of £3262 from 2017 to 31 March 2022. He has paid some arrears through an AEO.
The Council issued an AEO to Mr X’s employer. The Council wrote to Mr X at his last known address. The employer made a deduction and notified Mr X. Mr X complained to the Council in September and said he had not heard about the deduction from the Council. He explained he had moved house in June and notified the Council a few days later.
The Council said it had not received the change of address notification. It gave Mr X an email address and asked him to provide proof if his new tenancy. It said it had applied for the AEO correctly by writing to Mr X at his last known address. It said no letters had been returned. The Council suspended the AEO until Mr X sent proof of his new tenancy so it could close the old account. The Council said it would not issue a refund because it had issued the AEO correctly. In early October Mr X provided the Council with information about when he left his previous address.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council did not receive notification that Mr X had moved so wrote to him at the address it held. The deduction would have been made even if Mr X had received the letter because the liability order gives the Council the power to use an AEO. Despite this, the Council suspended the AEO to allow Mr X time to provide proof of his new address. The delay in adjusting the account is not due to fault by the Council and the arrears were accrued before Mr X moved. The Council processed the AEO correctly and acted appropriately by asking Mr X to provide evidence that his old tenancy had ended and the new one started. There is no reason to start an investigation and no grounds for compensation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman