The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax enforcement as this is a matter for the courts. Further, there is insufficient evidence of injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complains that the Council has not properly served her either reminder or final notices on her Council tax account to warrant a Liability Order.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B)) 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, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says that the Council failed to send her any reminder letters concerning her Council tax account. The Council says that the required reminders have been sent.
Any dispute as whether a summons for a Liability Order has been properly carried out can be disputed in court to deny the Liability Order. Further, as no summons had been issued, no additional costs would have been added. In the absence of any costs I do not consider that there is sufficient injustice to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because this is a matter for the courts and there is insufficient evidence of injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman