15 February 2016

Complaint reference:
15 016 673
Complaint against:
North East Lincolnshire Council

The Ombudsmans draft decision

Summary: Mr X complained about the Councils summons and liability
order charges for recovery of unpaid council tax in 2012. The
Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. Mr X appealed to the
High Court against the Council and the Magistrates Court for granting
the liability order in 2012. He has not received a successful outcome
but any matter on which court proceedings have commenced is
outside the Ombudsmans jurisdiction. In addition Mr X was aware of
the matter more than 12 months before he submitted his current
complaint. The Ombudsman will not exercise her discretion to
investigate this matter now because he made a similar complaint in
2013.

The complaint
1.

The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the summons charge
which he received in 2012. He says he paid 10 which he considered a
reasonable reflection of the costs and the Council then obtained a liability order
from the Magistrates Court for the remaining 60 costs. He says the Magistrates
Court is also at fault for issuing the liability order.

The Ombudsmans role and powers

2.

3.

The Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court

action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c))
The Ombudsman cannot investigate late complaints unless she decides there are
good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to
complain to the Ombudsman about something a council has done. (Local
Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D)

How I considered this complaint

4.

I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint.

What I found
5.

Mr X received a summons of 70 for unpaid council tax in October 2012. He

considers the cost to be excessive and paid the Council 10 which he says is
appropriate for the cost of recovery. The Council took the matter to the
Magistrates Court in November 2012 and obtained a liability order for the
remaining 60. Mr X says the Court should not have granted the order because
1

he considered the liability was settled and he wrote to inform the court of this. He
attended a court hearing on 2 November but the court granted the order.
6.

7.

8.

9.

Mr X challenged the Court decision and the Clerk informed him that he may only
do so in the High Court. Mr X says he applied to the High Court to challenge the
Council and the Magistrates Courts decisions on 22 November 2012. He says
that despite this and a second judicial review action he has not obtained a
satisfactory result from the High Court.
Mr X asked the Council to quash the liability order in February 2013. The Council
refused to do so because it said the order was valid. Mr X disputes this. In May
2013 he complained to the Ombudsman about the arrears on his account
because they were carried forward to the following financial year. The complaint
was considered premature and we advised Mr X to pursue a formal complaint
with the Council. He did not state in his complaint that he had already taken the
matter to the High Court.
Mr X did not submit a formal complaint to the Council until March 2014. He
disputed the procedure and the outcome of the initial stages. The Council sent a
final decision in September 2014. Mr X did not submit another complaint about
this until 2016.
It is clear that Mr X disputes the charges which the Council makes for serving a
summons for council tax arrears. He challenged the decision of the Council and
Magistrates in 2012 and made two applications to the High Court. The
Ombudsman may not consider matters which are subject to the commencement
of court proceedings, regardless of the outcome. Mr X made a complaint in 2013
but he did not resubmit it until 2016. The Ombudsman would not exercise
discretion on the grounds of time where the complaint subject is outside her
jurisdiction on the grounds of court involvement.

Draft decision
Mr X appealed to the High Court against the Council and the
Magistrates Court for granting the liability order in 2012. He has not
received a successful outcome but any matter on which court
proceedings have commenced is outside the Ombudsmans
jurisdiction. The Ombudsman will not exercise her discretion to
investigate this matter now because he made a similar complaint in
2013.

Investigators draft decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Draft decision for your comments