Summary: Mr X complained the Council have not applied deductions to his council tax arrears that it should have. Mr X also complains about how the Council processed his council tax account and application for Council Tax Support Discretionary Discount. Based on the information available, I have found fault in how the Council responded to Mr X’s application. The Council have agreed to our recommendations.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council have not applied deductions to council tax arrears that it should have. Mr X also complains about inconvenience caused when the Council mistakenly set up a new council tax account. Mr X also complained the Council failed to acknowledge or respond to an application he made for discretionary housing payment, and to requests to raise a complaint. Mr X would like the Council to account for deductions it should have, and to make a financial award for inconvenience and financial hardship caused throughout the process.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke with Mr X and also considered the complaint documents he provided. I made enquiries with the Council and considered its comments and the documents it sent. I also invited Mr X and the Council to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Council tax – recovery summary

5. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cover both the way councils collect payments of council tax and the way councils can recover council tax debt. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and associated regulations cover the way bailiffs may recover debts.
6. The council tax bill for the year is due on the 1st April. A council will usually collect payment through monthly instalments. If any instalment is missed the council will send the liable person a reminder. If a payment is still not made or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
7. To use the various powers available to it to recover unpaid council tax, a council has to apply to the Magistrates Court for a liability order against those it believes are liable. Once a council has obtained a liability order it can take recovery action.
8. A liability order gives a Council legal powers to take enforcement action to collect the money owed. This can include taking deductions from benefits, getting an attachment of earnings (by which deductions are taken directly from earnings by an employer and passed to the Council) or using bailiffs. The Council can decide which recovery method it wishes to use but it can only use one method for one liability order at one time.

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What happened

Council tax liability

9. Mr X is in arrears with his Council Tax for the financial years of 19/20, 20/21 and 21/22.
10. The Council issued a summons regarding the arrears in 2019 where it later obtained a liability order following a court hearing in September 2019.
11. A further court summons was issued to Mr X in April 2021 in respect of the debt relating to the 2020 council tax arrears.
12. The Council withdrew the summons relating to the 2020 arrears and in a letter sent to Mr X in June 2021, it advised him it would remove the court costs as a gesture of goodwill.
13. Mr X also says the Council have not accounted for deductions it has made to his benefits.

Council Tax account

14. Mr X owned Address A, but in April 2020 moved to Address B. In October 2020, Mr X moved from Address B to Address C. During this period, the Council closed Mr X’s tax account and it created a new one.
15. On 2 October 2020, Mr X called the Council to advise it of his change of circumstances regarding his address. On 3 October 2020, Mrs X contacted the council to advise it that Mr X had moved from Address B to Address C. The Council updated its records by removing Mr X from its records at Address B and he was registered at Address C for council tax purposes.
16. On 26 October 2020, Mr X submitted a change of circumstances online. Following this, on 28 and 30 October 2020, the Council asked Mr X to confirm the date he moved out of Address B, the date his wife moved out of Address A and to provide all pages of his current Universal Credit award letter.
17. Mr X called the Council on 30 October 2020 to advise it that his council tax account for Address A should not have been closed, and that he was not responsible for council tax at Address C as he was renting a room. During this time, Mr X says his landlord had also contacted the Council throughout October in an attempt to resolve the situation but was unsuccessful. Mr X provided a copy of his tenancy agreement on 30 October 2020. On 5 November 2020, Mr X sent the Council a copy of his wife’s tenancy agreement.
18. On 11 November 2020, Mr X was sent the same request for information, again asking him to confirm the date his wife moved out of Address A and to provide all pages of his current Universal Credit award letter. The Council says it did not hear from Mr X until March 2021, when he submitted an application for Council Tax Support Discretionary Discount.
19. Following a further call from Mr X’s landlord in March 2021, the Council closed the tax account that it had created for Address C and reinstated Mr X’s original account for Address A.

Application for Council Tax Support Discretionary Discount

20. In March 2021, Mr X made an application for Council Tax Support Discretionary Discount. The Council acknowledged receipt of Mr X’s application the following day.
21. The Council processed Mr X’s application in June 2021. The Council determined that Mr X was not eligible for Discretionary Council Tax Discount or a Discretionary Housing Payment. The Council sent Mr X its decision letters outlining its reasons.
22. The Council wrote to Mr X in December 2021 to advise him of his right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service.

Financial hardship

23. Mr X emailed the Council in October 2020 informing it he would pay the outstanding debt from the proceeds of his property sale. Mr X contacted the Council in February 2021 to advise it that his buyer had withdrawn from the purchase.
24. The Council sent an Attachment of Benefits Order to the Department for Work and Pensions in March 2021. The deductions are currently taking place at £3.85 a week.

Complaint handling – Requests to raise a complaint

25. Mr X says he emailed the Council to raise complaints in January 2021, April 2021, and June 2021, which the Council did not respond to. Mr X says he sent his request in response to an email thread and so the Council cannot dispute it received it.

Analysis

Council Tax liability

26. The Ombudsman would not usually consider complaints about a council tax liability dispute. Such complaints are normally for the Valuation Tribunal Service. However, Mr X’s complaint concerns a dispute about whether the Council have applied deductions it should have. Therefore, we have exercised our discretion to consider this part of Mr X’s complaint.
27. The Council have provided a breakdown of Mr X’s total balance and it has withdrawn the court costs relating to the 2020 arrears. The Council has not withdrawn court costs relating to the 2019 arrears, but it did not say it would. Further, the information demonstrates that deductions made to Mr X’s benefits have also been accounted for in the balance Mr X owes.

Council Tax account

28. There is uncertainty about when exactly the Council created the additional council tax account in error. The Council advises in its Stage 2 response letter that it created the account in April 2020. The Council also says the account was created when Mr X moved to Address C in October 2020. In any event, the Council acknowledges that there were administrative errors in how it processed Mr X’s council tax account.
29. The Council says its officer did not know that Mr X owned Address A when it closed his council tax account. The Council also acknowledges that correspondence sent to its benefit department had not been forwarded to the council tax office as it should have. Further, the Council said that there were delays in deleting the tax account after it mistakenly applied a council tax reduction to the account. This would have contributed to the confusion and delay in resolving the issue. If not for these errors, the situation could have either been prevented, or resolved much sooner.
30. During his time, Mr X was sent invoices for council tax which he was not liable for. Given the financially difficult situation Mr X was already in, it is understandable that this would have been stressful. Further, it is clear he had spent much time trying to resolve the situation, including calling the Council, submitting a change of circumstances online, asking his landlord to call the Council, and later having to formally complain.

Application for Council Tax Support Discretionary Discount

31. The Council have said that its ability to process applications had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It said there had been delays in scanning documents and that applications were processed in date order.
32. It took the Council over two months to process Mr X’s application. Whilst there were delays, it did eventually determine that Mr X was not eligible. Therefore, I cannot see that these delays caused a significant injustice to Mr X except for uncertainty and frustration in being issued a decision.
33. Mr X had a statutory right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service and the Council should have informed Mr X about this in its decision letter. The Council later informed Mr X about his right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service in December 2021 following advice from our service.

Financial hardship

34. The Council obtained a liability order in September 2019, and it requested an Attachment of Benefits in March 2021. The case of Ridgeway Motors (Isleworth) Ltd v ALTS Ltd, (2005 EWCA Civ 92 A) said there is no time limit to recovery action once a liability order has been granted.
35. Whilst the Attachment of Benefits Order is likely to have put further strain on Mr X’s finances, there is nothing to suggest the Council’s actions were made with fault. The Council afforded Mr X significant time to clear the arrears after it obtained the liability order. It made the Attachment of Benefits Order following the unsuccessful sale of Mr X’s property. It was entitled to do so, and we cannot question a decision that has been made properly.

Complaint handling – Requests to raise a complaint

36. The information Mr X submitted shows that he did attempt to email the Council to raise complaints in January 2021, April 2021, and June 2021. Mr X however used an incorrect email address when raising his first request, and so any email thereafter as part of the email thread would not have been received by the Council.

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Recommended/ agreed action

37. To acknowledge the impact on Mr X and to prevent further problems, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mr X and award an amount of £150 to in recognition of the confusion, inconvenience and stress incurred when it opened and closed his council tax account.
2. Make amendments to its decision template letter to ensure applicants are signposted to the Valuation Tribunal Service and informed of their right of appeal.
38. The Council should complete actions a-b within two months of the Ombudsman’s final decision. The Council should evidence its compliance to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation on the basis the Council’s failure to tell Mr X about his right of appeal amounts to fault. Further, that administrative errors led to avoidable inconvenience and stress for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman