The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax arrears because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains there has been a profound service failure by the Council in the way it responded to his concerns about council tax arrears. His complaint includes allegations of corruption, poor record keeping, failure to prevent fraud, hiding behind data protection and poor complaint handling. Mr X wants compensation and for the Council to change its procedures.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and email exchanges. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X owns a property which he rents to tenants. The tenants stopped paying the rent. Mr X believes the Council told the tenants to stop paying. Mr X stopped paying his council tax (on his home) about four years ago. Mr X says he has no money to pay the council tax because he is not receiving rent from the tenants.
Mr X has council tax arrears of about £7525. The Council has obtained liability orders and instructed bailiffs. Mr X’s last payment was to bailiffs in 2022. The Council has, at times, recalled the debt, invited Mr X to make a payment plan, reduced the bailiff fees and invited Mr X to claim benefit. It said it did not tell the tenants to stop paying their rent and said that, due to data protection, it cannot provide details of any benefit claims made by the tenants.
The Council agreed its complaints handling could have been better at times. It explained that some of Mr X’s complaints had been dealt with by phone when the Council should have provided a written response. The Council said it would provide training. The Council said it also met with Mr X and provided phone and email replies.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. People are required to pay their council tax; Mr X has arrears and has paid virtually no council tax since 2020. In these circumstances the law allows councils to take recovery action and the Council was not required to suspend action while Mr X was complaining. The Council acted appropriately by trying to set up a payment plan, inviting a benefit claim and recalling the account from bailiffs. The Council explained it did not advise the tenants to stop paying their rent. Further, regardless of the actions of the tenants, Mr X was and is required to pay his council tax.
The Council says it could have managed some aspects of the complaint more efficiently. But, it is clear there has been a lot of contact with Mr X via letters, emails, calls and a meeting. Overall, despite some failings, this does not amount to fault requiring an investigation.
Mr X says the Council is hiding behind data protection because it said it could not share information about the tenants’ benefit status. If Mr X thinks this is wrong he can complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO). It is reasonable to expect Mr X to do this because the ICO is the appropriate organisation to consider complaints about data protection.
Mr X has complained of poor record keeping. Again, I see nothing to suggest we need to investigate this issue and it may be that this relates to the Council not sharing all the information Mr X would like due to data protection. Further, I have not seen anything to suggest corruption or abuse of power as Mr X has alleged.
I have considered information provided by the Council and Mr X and I have not seen anything to suggest there has been fault requiring an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman