The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery of unpaid council tax. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council serving her with a summons for non-payment of council tax. She says it failed to properly consider her health issues and should withdraw the summons and compensate her.
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) 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X says the Council served her with a summons without any prior notification. She says she has health problems and is unable to work. The Council says it sent a reminder when she missed the initial payments of the current year’s tax. When she informed it that she was unable to work because of health issues it sent her an application for council tax support. She submitted the claim but the Council says she did not provide the required supporting documents.
After placing the recovery action on hold for a month to allow Mrs X to complete the application the Council sent a final notice in August and issued a summons in September as no payment or arrangement had been received from her.
Councils as billing authorities have a duty to recover council tax from householders in their area. Where someone says they are unable to pay the tax for financial reasons they are entitled to submit a claim for council tax support which will reduce the debt if they qualify. Mrs X did not complete her support application and she did not make a payment arrangement so the Council took recovery action after giving her a final opportunity to come to an arrangement.
We may not question the merits of decisions which have been properly made. We do not comment on judgements councils make, unless they are affected by fault in the decision-making process. In this case the Council followed the correct procedure under the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
The Council advised Mrs X that if she has mitigating circumstances which she believes challenge the court action then she will be able to present these to the magistrates court at a hearing. We have no jurisdiction to consider matters relating to court proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s recovery of unpaid council tax. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman