The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a council tax debt. The complaint is late and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in its more recent actions to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Ms X says the Council unfairly pursued recovery of council tax from a former address she left more than two years earlier using its enforcement agent. She said she had tried to pay but could not. The Council did not respond to her request for help. The Council had her contact information, but it failed to use this until its enforcement agent chased outstanding arrears. This caused her distress when she was very ill.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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)).
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).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
The Council replied Ms X had council tax arrears from her former address. As she did not provide a forwarding address, the Council sent notices to her previous address. It said Ms X was aware of the arrears because she contacted the Council in April 2023 after receiving a reminder. It agreed a payment plan. The Council responded when Ms X said she had difficulty paying online. It also sent her a single person discount form, but she did not return it.
The Council said Ms X did not give her forwarding address when it asked for it in February 2025. The Council then sent a summons and obtained a liability order. The Council’s enforcement agent later traced Ms X’s new address.
The Council advised Ms X to return a single person discount form and to make a payment arrangement. The Council said it had no evidence Ms X had paid before leaving her former address as she suggested.
We will not investigate this complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for this. Ms X was aware of the debt because she contacted the Council in 2023.
There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify an investigation into more recent actions. The Council obtained a liability order in 2025 because Ms X had not paid from 2023. The Council asked for evidence of payments, but Ms X has not been able to provide this. The Council held recovery to allow her to apply for a discount and make an arrangement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late, and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in more recent actions to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman