The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate the Council’s recovery of a council tax debt from 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We have no discretion to investigate complaints which have been subject to court proceedings.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council recovering unpaid council tax from the financial year 2022/2023. He disputes the amount being recovered and says it is unreasonable to add enforcement costs to the debt.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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/care provider 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the Council has been pursuing him for unpaid council tax since 2023. He disputes the amount being claimed and says he did not get the full amount of discount he was entitled to at the time.
The Council was in communication with Mr X in 2023 and sent him reminders and warnings about recovery of the debt. When it issued a summons, he told the Council that he would be out of the country for any court hearing. The Council obtained a liability order for the debt and bailiff recovery costs have been added to this. Mr X made payment arrangements to clear the debt with the enforcement agents but the Council says these arrangements were not complied with.
We will not investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for accepting complaints. Mr X has been aware of the debts since early 2023 and the Council issued the first summonses at that time. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
We have some discretion to consider older complaints in some circumstances but this would not apply here. We have no discretion to investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings and in the case of council tax these commence when a summons has been issued. Even if Mr X had complained to us about the court action at the time we would have been unable to investigate.
Final decision
We will not exercise discretion to investigate the Council’s recovery of council tax debt from 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We have no discretion to investigate complaints which have been subject to court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman