The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council tax bill from June 2024. This is because part of the complaint is late. We will not investigate matters from February 2025 because there is no injustice from the Council’s fault and Ms X could appeal. We cannot investigate court proceedings.
The complaint
Ms X says the Council failed to send her a bill for 2024/25 and then wrongly obtained a liability order. She also says it failed to award a council tax reduction
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 provider 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)).
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended).
The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
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 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 explaining its actions from March 2025 when Ms X contacted it to say she was liable from June 2024 when she moved back in. The Council sent Ms X a bill in March 2025. This included backdated liability to June 2024. Ms X also claimed a council tax reduction in April 2025. The Council took some time to assess whether Ms X was resident as there was conflicting information about this. In July the Council withdrew a summons it had issued and awarded council tax reduction. The Council apologised for some delay in starting to investigate its concerns about Ms X’s residence. The Council confirmed it had backdated the council tax reduction to January 2025.
When Ms X complained further in January 2026 after the Council sent another summons, the Council advised that she could appeal to the Valuation Tribunal or complain to the Ombudsman.
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council did not send her a council tax bill from June 2024. This is because the complaint is late, as she complained to the Ombudsman in February 2026 and there are no good reasons for the delay. In addition, there is likely not enough evidence of fault by the Council for the period June 2024 to February 2025 because the Council says Ms X first contacted it in March 2025. It sent a bill for 2024/25 and 2025/26 in March.
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to apply council tax reduction properly. This is because there is insufficient evidence that any fault, such as the delay in starting to assess Ms X’s residence, caused any injustice.
We will not investigate the Council’s decision not to award council tax reduction from June 2024 to January 2025. Ms X has or had a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, and it was reasonable to expect her to use this.
We cannot investigate court proceedings including the issue of a summons and the liability order hearing because the law does not allow it.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late. We will not investigate matters from February 2025 because there is no injustice to Ms X and she could appeal. We cannot investigate court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman