Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about Council tax liability as a Court made a Liability Order. We will not investigate her complaint about a refusal to grant Council Tax Reduction as it is reasonable to expect her to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council failed to grant her Council Tax Reduction (CTR) and should not be chasing her for Council Tax arrears.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council obtained a Court Liability Order, for Council Tax arrears following a summons in November 2023. We cannot investigate whether the Council is right to collect that amount as the Court decided Ms X was liable for the arrears.
7. Ms X applied for CTR in early 2024. The Council’s records show it wrote to her on 7 May 2024 refusing to grant CTR and notifying her of her appeal rights. Appeals against not awarding a CTR are to the billing authority, then to the Valuation Tribunal Service. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have appealed.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot investigate Council Tax liability ordered by a Court. And she had a right of appeal which was reasonable to expect her to use for the CTR refusal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman