The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recover council tax arrears directly from Miss X’s earnings. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Miss X complained about the Council applying for two attachments of earnings orders to recover unpaid council tax. She says she already has monthly deduction for rent arrears and other debts and wants the Council to offer a monthly repayment plan instead.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 the decision making, 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
Miss X owes council tax from the 2017/18 period onwards. In the past the Council has obtained three liability orders from the magistrates Court and it passed her debts to enforcement agents to recover.
In February 2022 the Council took the debts back from the enforcement agents after Miss X failed to make payments to them or keep to any payment arrangement. The Council then applied for two attachments of earnings orders to recover the debt from her employer directly. Miss X complained and told the Council that she faces financial hardship and cannot afford the deductions.
The Council asked her to provide details of her financial commitments in February and in March she provided details. In April the Council ended one of the attachments but the other remains in place to recover the outstanding balance.
Councils can apply for attachments of earnings when other methods of recovery have failed to reduce council tax debts. The amount recovered is fixed as a percentage by statute, not by the Council. In this case the Council applied for the orders using the proper procedure and considered Miss X’s appeal, later reducing the orders from two to one.
When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recover council tax arrears directly from Miss X’s earnings. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman