Leicester City Council (20 004 919)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains that the Council refused to refund money he paid to enforcement agents with respect to an alleged council tax debt. I have stopped investigating this complaint. The Council offered to refund the money and so no further action by the Ombudsman is needed.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council refused to refund money he paid to enforcement agents with respect to an alleged council tax debt.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault, or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
- it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
- there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
- it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I examined the complaint and background information provided by Mr X and the Council. I sent a draft decision statement to Mr X and the Council. I considered the comments of both sides on the draft decision statement. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its further comments.
What I found
- The Council’s revenues team contacted Mr X in June 2019 to say it was aware of his student status but it wanted information on his wife’s visa before it could award a full council tax exemption.
- The Council says it did not receive a reply from Mr X and so it decided to issue a bill in July 2019. It sent the bill in July and a reminder in August 2019. This was followed by a summons letter in September.
- Mr X says he wrote to the Council in September 2019. I have seen a copy of the September 2019 email which is time stamped with the September date as well as time.
- The Council says it did not hear further from Mr X and so it proceeded to obtain a liability order from the Magistrates’ court in October 2019. It instructed enforcement agents in the same month.
- Mr X says he wrote again to the Council in November 2019. I have seen a copy of the email again with a date and time stamp.
- The Council says the first contact it had with Mr X was in March 2020. It says Mr X then provided the missing information it needed. The Council awarded Mr X an exemption in April 2020. It credited X’s account with the council tax amount he had paid. Mr X then had the option of applying for a refund.
- Mr X applied for a refund. He sought not just the council tax amount but the entire sum he paid to the bailiffs.
- The Council told Mr X that it had to see the evidence that he had provided the information it required before it instructed the enforcement agents. So, Mr X provided the information. The Council said the information Mr X provided was in an unreadable format and so it could not establish whether Mr X sent any information before March 2020.
- Mr X then complained to the Ombudsman.
- During my investigation, we established that Mr X had sent two emails to the Council in September and November 2019. An investigation by the Council’s IT department also established that the Council did not receive either email.
- As the Council did not receive the emails, I cannot make a finding on the matter of fault. However, the Council recognised Mr X should not be penalised because he made efforts to contact it. The Council agreed to refund the sum Mr X paid the enforcement agents.
- The Council had already made a partial refund to Mr X. It agreed to refund the remainder which is a total of £384.50.
Final decision
- I discontinued investigation of this complaint because the Council agreed to a refund of the sum Mr X paid the enforcement agents.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman