Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a direct debit which the complainant says the Council failed to use to collect council tax in 2019. This is because it is a late complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council confirmed, in 2019, that she had an active direct debit for council tax but did not use it to collect her payments. Ms X says she is not responsible for the arrears and wants the Council to accept she is not at fault.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

5. Ms X set up a direct debit to pay council tax in 2019. The Council used the direct debit for the next financial year. It did not use it for 2019/20 because Ms X had arrears for that year and had lost her right to pay by instalment. The Council explained this to Ms X in 2019.
6. Ms X complained to the Council in 2021. In April 2021 the Council explained what had happened in 2019 with the direct debit. Ms X did not escalate her complaint, as invited, but made further enquiries and contacted her MP. In 2023 the Council decided to issue a stage two response which repeated the explanation for what happened in 2019. In July 2023 the Council invited Ms X to complain to us. Ms X complained to us in January 2024.
7. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. Ms X has known since 2019 that the Council did not use the direct debit and has known the reasons for this since 2019 or 2021; but she not complain to us until 2024. I have not seen any good reason to accept a complaint about something that happened in 2019 and about which Ms X has already received an explanation. Ms X may have raised this with the Council in 2019 but she did contact us until 2024.
8. Ms X also complained the Council has not provided copies of notices about her council tax. Ms X can make a Subject Access Request. If she is unhappy with the response she can complain to the Information Commissioner.

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Final decision

9. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman