The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery of council tax arrears. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.
The complaint
Ms X complained about the Council recovering unpaid council tax from the financial year 2017-2018. She disputes the amount being recovered and says that she paid the amount in 2022.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says the Council has been pursuing her for unpaid council tax since 2028. She had a payment arrangement in place but the Council says this was broken by her in 2022. The Council obtained a liability order for the debt in the magistrates court in 2018.
We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint which concerns matters the complainant was aware of more than 12 months before she complained to us in December 2024. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
Final decision
We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery of council tax arrears. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman