Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s council tax. The law prevents us considering what happened during court action. The Council has already done much of what Miss X wanted. Miss X could reasonably take court action if she wants compensation. It would be disproportionate for us to investigate any other points and we would be unlikely to achieve significantly more.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the handling of her council tax account, especially points about the Council taking court action and involving enforcement agents.

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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 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)
4. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and copy complaint correspondence from the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. In 2023 and 2024 the Council made various changes to council tax it said Miss X owed. This was due to changes in Miss X’s household. It was also due to changes to Miss X’s Universal Credit, which in turn affected her entitlement to Council Tax Reduction. The Council took court action for unpaid council tax, got a liability order from the magistrates’ court and passed the debt to enforcement agents. The Council accepts some fault. Miss X says there was more fault than the Council has recognised.
10. In deciding whether to investigate, we must consider the legal restrictions on our power. Even on points without a legal restriction, we must consider whether investigation is likely to be a proportionate use of our resources and achieve anything significantly worthwhile.
11. Miss X’s complaint to us clearly resulted from her being subject to court action and action by enforcement agents. Before the Council took court action, Miss X had asked the Council if she could pay the arrears in instalments. The Council had said it would not agree that until it had started recovery action. That request would have been after Miss X had lost the right to pay in instalments due to the arrears. So the Council did not need to agree an instalment arrangement then. In such situations, it is not unusual for councils to secure a debt with a court order before agreeing an instalment plan. It is unlikely any investigation by us would criticise the Council on this point.
12. The restriction in paragraph 3 prevents us investigating the Council’s resulting decision to start court action. It also prevents us considering all the Council’s actions between the Council issuing the summons and the court issuing the liability order. So we cannot consider events in that period, including the allegedly delayed and incomplete reply to an email Miss X sent the Council asking about the summons and a telephone call in which the Council mistakenly advised Miss X to ignore the summons. Also, the restriction in paragraph 4 prevents us considering the Council’s complaint-handling on those points.
13. I am also mindful Miss X’s complaint to the Council asked it to: recall the debt from the enforcement agents; remove the court costs; refund £75 Miss X had paid the enforcement agents; and agree Miss X could pay £200 a month towards her current council tax and the arrears until 2025. The Council has now done all that. On two of those points:
• The Council says Miss X must set up three payments (one for each council tax account) totalling £200 a month. In the circumstances I do not criticise that.
• The Council offset the £75 against Miss X’s council tax rather than returning it to Miss X. This concerns complaint-handling on a point the law prevents us investigating, so we cannot consider this, as paragraph 4 explained.
14. So the Council effectively achieved the main points Miss X asked it for. We are unlikely to achieve significantly more. So it would be disproportionate for us to devote time and public money to investigating.
15. In her complaint to us Miss X said she wants ‘compensation,’ largely for the alleged impact of the Council’s actions on her health and family life. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to assess damages or award compensation. That is more properly for the courts, so the restriction in paragraph 5 applies here. The possible cost of court action does not in itself automatically mean the Ombudsman should investigate instead. This is especially so because the claimed impact on Miss X’s health is an allegation of personal injury. The existence of, liability for, and compensation for, personal injury are not straightforward points legally. It is more suitable for the courts than the Ombudsman to decide these matters. So it would be reasonable for Miss X to go to court for a decision about compensation.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The law prevents us considering events during court action. The Council has already done much of what Miss X wanted. Miss X could reasonably take court action if she wants compensation. It would be disproportionate for us to investigate any other points and we would be unlikely to achieve significantly more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman