Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about payments of Council tax as the matter has been remedied.

The complaint

1. Mr X says that the Council has acted inconsistently in the way it has pursued arrears of Council tax from him.

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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 investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X says that the Council has confused him by stating that they were recovering Council tax arrears by both attachment of earnings and a payment plan.
8. The Council says that the initial problem was that his Council tax payments were made without a specific account number so that payments were placed into the wrong account.
9. They say that, once this was corrected, a payment plan was agreed and the employer was told that no attachment of earnings order was needed.
10. However, following one delayed payment, the Council decided to use the attachment of earnings order again. Another payment plan was agreed and the attachment order was cancelled again.
11. I appreciate that the whole process was confusing and upsetting to Mr X but the Council’s explanation and chronology show that the matter has now been remedied and there are no grounds to investigate the matter further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman