The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a council tax matter. Some of the complaint is late, and Mr X has sought a remedy in court.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council ignored correspondence, misled the court when a Liability Order was granted, provided inaccurate information to enforcement agents, did not prevent enforcement agents applying unjust fees and has not communicated properly with him.
Mr X says this caused distress and injustice.
Mr X wants the Council to answer his questions and suspend enforcement action.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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) The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916) We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B)) The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X said he wrote to the Council in 2022 about council tax liability but did not receive a response.
We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. The 12-month period runs from the day the person affected had notice of the matters alleged in the complaint i.e. the actions complained about. So the complaint is late, and it was reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner about the matter.
Mr X also said the Council misled the court by not filing the 2022 document from him when it applied for a Liability Order.
We cannot investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about the start of court action or what happened in court.
Mr X has applied to the court to quash the Liability Order. The law prevents us from investigating further.
The provision of information to enforcement agents and enforcement agent fees could reasonably be mentioned in the legal proceedings Mr X has started to quash the Liability Order, so we will not investigate.
We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s communication with him. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation about a matter which the law says we cannot investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because some of the complaint is late, and he has sought a remedy in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman