Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about council tax arrears recovery. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council placing recovery of her council tax arrears in the hands of enforcement agents. She says the Council failed to support her to give her the information which she needed to pay in previous years. She wants the Council to end recovery and remove the outstanding debts.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X says the Council has placed her council tax debt in the hand of enforcement agents (bailiffs) and she is distressed about them taking action against her.
7. The Council says she owes unpaid council tax from the year 2022/23 for a previous address and also missing payments from the year 2023/24. Miss X complained to the Council in May 2023 and it sent her a breakdown of the outstanding payments. It issued a bill for the financial year and subsequently reminder notices, a final reminder and a court summons for the unpaid amounts. The Council advised Miss X that unless she paid before the court date in May 2023 it would seek a liability order and the recovery would incur costs.
8. We will not investigate complaints about matters which the complainant was aware of more than 12 months before they brought it to our attention. In this case Miss X knew about the required payments in early 2023 and did not complain to us within 12 months of that date.
9. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
10. We have some discretion to consider older complaints but we will not apply it in this case because the matter has been subject to court proceedings and we have no discretion to investigate such matters.

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Final decision

11. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about council tax arrears recovery. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman