The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax support and enforcement because the matter was appealed to a Valuation Tribunal and there is no evidence of fault by the Council and is also out of time.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the Council’s failure to pay sufficient Council tax support and a summons they issued against her for non payment.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal or a government minister or started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended) 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 of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X had previously complained to this office about her Council tax liability and support. The Ombudsman decided not to investigate these complaints as she had appealed to a Valuation Tribunal. That decision remains.
Ms X also complained about the Council’s use of a summons in 2022 to enforce a Council tax arrears. The Council wrote to her in late 2022 to tell her why the summons was issued. Whilst that decision is out of time I have considered whether or not there was fault by the Council in the issue of the summons.
The Council provided a chronology to show that there was Council tax arrears of £472 by October 2022, due to non payment. The law requires the issue of at least one reminder before issuing a summons for a liability order hearing at the magistrates’ court.
The Council issued two reminder letters and two text reminders. I am satisfied that the Council acted without fault in enforcing the Council tax debt.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she had appealed to a Valuation Tribunal and there is no fault in the Council’s actions. The complaint is also out of time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman