The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about recovery action taken by the Council in respect of a business rates debt as there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has passed his business rates account to its enforcement agents to collect arrears. Mr X complains he has heard nothing from the Council about this debt for several years until the enforcement agents contacted him this year. Mr X wants the debt to be written off.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our investigating and we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Th Council has told me it obtained a court liability order against Mr X in 2016 for non-payment of business rates. It says Mr X did not keep to a payment arrangement that had been agreed and that following this, the Council had difficulty tracing Mr X, until its enforcement agents were able to do so earlier this year.
The Council is duty bound to collect business rates and a court determined Mr X was liable for the debt. We cannot cancel the debt. As such, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks. For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council, and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman