The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax. This is because part of the complaint is late. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation of Mr X’s other complaints.
The complaint
Mr X says the Council failed to allocate council tax payments correctly for 2023. He said he had provided evidence of payments to the Council in 2023 but it failed to consider it. He said it then unfairly pursued council tax recovery and added enforcement fees when he had paid. This caused him distress and anxiety.
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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).
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 or continue 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)).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council regarding the matters set out in paragraph 1.
Mr X complains about the Council not recording payments he made in 2023. This complaint is late as Mr X was aware of the claimed fault in 2023. There are no good reasons for Mr X making the complaint late.
Mr X complains the Council did not place a hold on recovery action while it responded to his complaint. The Council replied that the recovery action Mr X referred to was for the current council tax year. It had placed a hold on recovery for the 2023 and 2024 council tax accounts.
There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint regarding misallocation of payment because it is late and there is no good reason for this. There is insufficient evidence of fault regarding the Council’s recovery action for 2025/26.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman