12. Section 6(3) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 says a complaint should be made to an MP within 12 months of when a person becomes aware of their concerns. It says we can only investigate complaints made after that period if there are special circumstances.
13. We consider Mr A became fully aware of his concerns that HMRC was not providing the information he wanted or expected by 21 November 2022. This is when HMRC sent a final response to his complaint.
14. Mr A told us he never intended to make a complaint to HMRC and was simply asking for information. HMRC treated Mr A’s concerns as a complaint and provided a first tier response on 3 October 2022 followed by a second tier response on 21 November 2022. We note Mr A went on to refer the matter to The Adjudicator’s Office (this is the next step in the complaints process after receiving two tier responses from HMRC). He also asked his MP to refer the matter to the Ombudsman. This suggests he was following the formal complaints process, even if he did not intend to do so at the outset. For the purposes of reviewing the time limit, we consider HMRC provided two complaint responses to Mr A.
15. To meet the time limit, Mr A would need to have complained to his MP by 21 November 2023 (this is 12 months after the final response from HMRC). Mr A did not complain to his MP until 25 March 2025. This is approximately two years and four months after the final response from HMRC, which means Mr A’s complaint is approximately one year and four months outside our time limit.
16. We have discussed this with Mr A to understand if there were any special circumstances that prevented him from being able to complain to his MP sooner.
17. Mr A told us he was not initially aware of the complaint process he should be following and did not receive any guidance from HMRC. Mr A also told us he was focussed on corresponding with DWP after HMRC outsourced the debt.
18. On 3 October 2022 HMRC wrote to Mr A and explained it had a two tier complaints process and had reviewed his complaint at the first tier. HMRC explained what Mr A could do if he wanted a further review. On 21 November 2022 HMRC explained to Mr A he had come to the end of the internal complaints process. It explained if he disagreed with the outcome, he could ask the Adjudicator’s Office to look at his complaint and should do so by 19 May 2023.
19. We consider the evidence available does not support Mr A’s claim that he did not know about the process he needed to follow.
20. Mr A first contacted his MP in relation to this matter on 25 March 2025, which was outside the time limit as explained above. This was before Mr A completed the local complaints process, as he did not contact the Adjudicator’s Office until 24 April 2025. The Adjudicator’s Office responded on 9 May 2025, advising Mr A it would not investigate his complaint. This was because the complaint had not been received within six months of the final response from HMRC and Mr A had not provided a justifiable reason for the delay.
21. There is evidence Mr A was corresponding with DWP between the final response from HMRC and his complaint to his MP. Mr A continued to raise the same questions and concerns as he had with HMRC. The responses from DWP indicated it was going to continue to pursue recovery of the debt.
22. After careful consideration, Mr A’s communication with DWP would not have prevented him from progressing his ‘complaint’ and contacting his MP or The Adjudicator’s Office sooner.
23. We have carefully considered Mr A’s explanation of the delay in complaining to his MP. Overall, we do not consider there are any special circumstances that would justify us putting the time limit to one side. We consider Mr A was given clear instructions at each stage of the process by HMRC and The Adjudicators Office about what he needed to do next. Mr A did eventually complain to his MP and we have not seen any evidence that anything prevented him doing so sooner.